Echocardiography and Sports Cardiology: Expanding Horizons From Elite Athletes to Advanced Cardiovascular Disease

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  Fig. 1.. General outline of some of the main applications of echocardiography in sports cardiology. Echocardiography has a leading role in sports cardiology, as part of comprehensive workflows. These may include distinguishing between exercise-induced cardiac remodeling and pathology (particularly early-stage cardiomyopathies), and risk stratification of individuals with cardiovascular disease prior to exercise training. Some features of interest include chamber dimensions and wall thickness, aortic dimensions, valvular morphology and haemodynamic characteristics, or systolic and diastolic function (using a multiparametric approach across the examination). Both resting and stress (exercise) echocardiography can provide important data, the latter allowing an overview of the cardiovascular response to exercise. These should be analysed in view of the individual’s clinical history and physical examination, as well as other diagnostic tests (such as the electrocardiogram, but also other ancillary modalities according to the clinical context).