Why the study?
Right heart enlargement is common in the athlete heart phenotype, but few data exist regarding the interpretation of normal athletic adaptation during preparticipation cardiac screening of rugby football league athletes.
Does elite Rugby Football League athletic training alter right ventricular and right atrial structure and function compared to sedentary controls?
Does elite Rugby Football League athletic training alter right ventricular and right atrial structure and function compared to sedentary controls?
Elite rugby athletes exhibit physiological right heart enlargement and reduced strain rate that should be recognized as normal adaptation rather than pathology during pre-participation screening.
May indicate normal RV/RA adaptation in rugby athletes; hypothesis-generating for athlete-specific echocardiographic norms.
BACKGROUND: Right heart enlargement is common in the athletes' heart phenotype; however, few data exist regarding interpretation of normal athletic adaptation during Preparticipation Cardiac Screening (PCS) of Rugby Football League (RFL) athletes. Echocardiography is utilized during PCS and thus the primary aim of this study was to establish the normal right ventricular (RV) phenotype in elite RFL athletes using standard 2-D echocardiography and myocardial mechanics. The secondary aim was to describe right atrial (RA) structure and function using 2-D echocardiography. METHODS: 139 male RFL athletes underwent echocardiographic evaluation of the right heart including RV strain (ɛ) and strain rate (SR) imaging using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). Nonathletic males were used for comparison and allometric scaling was applied for conventional echocardiographic parameters. RESULTS: Scaled RV dimensions were larger in athletes (P < 0.05) with the exception of the mid-cavity. No differences (P > 0.05) in RV fractional area change (FAC) and RV longitudinal ɛ were observed between groups. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI)-indexed parameters and global strain rate (SR) were lower (P < 0.05) in athletes with HR and weight found to have co-variance with SR. The RA was larger in athletes (P < 0.001) with no functional difference (P > 0.05) observed by volume assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Reduction in SR and indexed TDI are partly associated with lower HR and increased body mass and are likely to represent normal physiological adaptation in RFL athletes. RA enlargement appears proportional to RV enlargement. These data may aid interpretation of normal athletic adaptation during PCS of RFL athletes.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Forsythe et al. (2019) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: