Five-year observation of a champion athlete demonstrated chronic cardiac changes of athletic heart syndrome, including cardiomegaly and arrhythmias, without impairing severe physical performance.
Case Report (n=1)
Demonstrates that profound structural and electrical cardiac changes in athletic heart syndrome do not preclude elite physical performance and should not be misclassified as cardiac disease.
Although there has been considerable elucidation of the athletic heart syndrome in Europe,1-4this entity has not yet become universally recognized or accepted in the United States.5-9The athletic heart may simulate the diseased heart by exhibiting a systolic murmur, a slow pulse rate, a variety of arrhythmias and disturbances of cardiac conduction, elevation of the S-T segments, and cardiac enlargement by x-ray. Despite the history of athletic endurance, many unfortunate athletes are classified as cardiac patients and are requested to stop athletic training. For the past five years, we have observed a superbly trained athlete with chronic cardiac changes. He has had a large globular heart, an intermittent systolic ejection murmur, sinus bradycardia and arrhythmia, a wandering atrial pacemaker, occasional nodal premature beats, elevation of the S-T segments, broad peaked T waves, and the ability to meet the severe physical demands of training and competitive rowing at
Peter H. Gott (Tue,) conducted a case report in Athletic heart syndrome (n=1). Athletic endurance training was evaluated on Cardiac evaluation findings. Five-year observation of a champion athlete demonstrated chronic cardiac changes of athletic heart syndrome, including cardiomegaly and arrhythmias, without impairing severe physical performance.