Assessment of the Left Ventricular Chamber Stiffness in Athletes

Since diastolic dysfunction is an early sign of the heart disease, detecting diastolic disturbances is predicted to be the way for early recognizing underlying heart disease in athletes. So-called chamber stiffness index (E/e')/LVDd was predicted to be useful in distinguishing physiological from pathological left ventricular hypertrophy, because it was shown to be reduced in athletes. It remains unknown whether it is reduced in all athletic population. Standard and tissue Doppler were used to assess cardiac parameters at rest in 16 elite male wrestlers, 21 water polo player, and 20 sedentary subjects of similar age. In addition to (E/e')/LVDd index, a novel (E/e')/LVV, (E/e')/RVe'lat indices were determined. Progressive continuous maximal test on treadmill was used to assess the functional capacity. VO(2) max was the highest in water polo players, and higher in wrestlers than in controls. LVDd, LVV, LVM/BH(2.7) were higher in athletes. Left ventricular early diastolic filling velocity, deceleration and isovolumetric relaxation time did not differ. End-systolic wall stress was significantly higher in water polo players. RV e' was lower in water polo athletes. Right atrial pressure (RVE/e') was the highest in water polo athletes. (E/e'lat)/LVDd was not reduced in athletes comparing to controls (water polo players 0.83 ± 0.39, wrestlers 0.73 ± 0.29, controls 0.70 ± 0.28; P = 0.52), but (E/e's)/RVe'lat better distinguished examined groups (water polo players 0.48 ± 0.37, wrestlers 0.28 ± 0.15, controls 0.25 ± 0.16, P = 0.015) and it was the only index which predicted VO(2) max. In conclusion, intensive training does not necessarily reduce (E/e'lat)/LVDd index. A novel index (E/e's)/RVe'lat should be investigated furthermore in detecting diastolic adaptive changes.