Left ventricular longitudinal strain in professional athletes, a useful tool to detect an athletes hearts?

Abstract

Background: Professional cyclists frequently present with physiological adaptations to endurance exercise with an increase in left ventricular wall thickness and mass. Global longitudinal strain (GLS) is an early and sensitive echocardiographic method to detect left ventricular dysfunction. However , it is unclear whether GLS is able to differentiate between athlete's hearts or different pathological conditions of left ventricular hypertrophy. Methods: A total of 87 professional athletes (37 professional cyclists, 29 professional soccer players, and 21 professional handball players) were compared to 125 patients with different forms of left ventricular hypertro-phy (17 hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), 36 hypertensive heart disease (HHD), 35 severe aortic valve stenosis (AVS); 37 untrained individuals served as controls. Examinations were performed between Oc-tober 2018 to October 2019. All subjects underwent echocardiographic examination , including GLS. Results: In all 212 participants/patients included a preserved ejection fraction >50% (mean 61±7%) was detected. Left ventricular mass index