Objectives—To determine whether the heart rate (HR) response to exercise in 21 highly trained cyclists (mean (SD) age 25 (3) years) was related to their heart dimensions. Methods—Before performing an incremental exercise test involving a ramp protocol with workload increases of 25 W/min, each subject underwent echocardiographic evaluation of the following variables: left ventricular end diastol...

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (MD) is the most common autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy in adults. Cardiac involvement is mainly characterized by conduction abnormalities and arrhythmias. We sought to assess diastolic function in MD patients. Echocardiography-Doppler was performed in Steinert's patients and in a control group completed by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). Twenty-six patients with S...

OBJECTIVES To determine whether the heart rate (HR) response to exercise in 21 highly trained cyclists (mean (SD) age 25 (3) years) was related to their heart dimensions. METHODS Before performing an incremental exercise test involving a ramp protocol with workload increases of 25 W/min, each subject underwent echocardiographic evaluation of the following variables: left ventricular end diast...

Two dimensionally guided M mode and Doppler echocardiographic data for 578 male subjects (106 non-athletic and 472 athletes) were analysed from two aspects: (a) in the young adult category (19–30 years of age), competitors in diVerent groups of sports were studied; (b) in the diVerent age groups (children, 10–14 years; adolescent juniors, 15–18 years; young adults, 19–30 years; adults, 31–44 ye...

BACKGROUND Our aim was to evaluate electrocardiographic and echocardiographic properties and exercise response of patients with fibromyalgia (FM). METHODS The study included 60 women with primary FM and 30 healthy individuals. Resting electrocardiography, echocardiography and exercise treadmill test were used to compare these two groups. At apical four-chamber window, samples of transmitral d...

BACKGROUND Peak early-diastolic mitral annulus velocity (e') by tissue Doppler imaging has been introduced as a clinical marker of diastolic function. This study investigates whether lengthening load (early-diastolic load) and restoring forces are determinants of e' in addition to rate of left ventricular (LV) relaxation. METHODS AND RESULTS In 10 anesthetized dogs, we measured e' by sonomicr...

The relative effects of chronic pressure overload and chronic volume overload on left ventricular diastolic chamber stiffness were examined using a combined hemodynamic and ultrasonic technique in 27 patients. The slope of the left ventricular pressure-diameter relation in late diastole was measured and found to be steep in the groups with pressure or volume overload (9.0 ± 1.8 mm Hg/mm for pre...

Characteristics of the athlete's heart have been investigated mostly in the left ventricle (LV); reports referring to the right ventricle (RV) have only appeared recently. The aim of the present study was to compare the training effects on RV and LV in elite male endurance athletes. To this end, echocardiography was conducted in 52 elite endurance athletes (A) and in 25 non-athletes (NA). Diffe...