Reduction in left ventricular wall thickness after deconditioning in highly trained Olympic athletes.

BACKGROUND: Clinical distinction between athlete's heart and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a trained athlete is often difficult. In an effort to identify variables that may aid in this differential diagnosis, the effects of deconditioning on left ventricular wall thickness were assessed in six highly trained elite athletes who had competed in rowing or canoeing at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Each of these athletes showed substantial ventricular septal thickening associated with training (13-15 mm) which resembled that of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. METHODS: The athletes voluntarily reduced their training substantially for 6-34 weeks (mean 13) after the Olympic competition. Echocardiography was performed at peak training and also after deconditioning, and cardiac dimensions were assessed blindly. RESULTS: Maximum ventricular septal thickness was 13.8 (0.9) mm in the trained state and 10.5 (0.5) in the deconditioned state (p < 0.005) (change 15-33%). CONCLUSIONS: The finding that deconditioning may be associated with a considerable reduction in ventricular septal thickness in elite athletes over short periods strongly suggests that these athletes had a physiological form of left ventricular hypertrophy induced by training. Such a reduction in wall thickness with deconditioning may help to distinguish between the physiological hypertrophy of athlete's heart and primary pathological hypertrophy (for example, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) in selected athletes with increased left ventricular wall thickness.