Journal article

Disproportionate exercise load and remodeling of the athlete's right ventricle

A La Gerche, H Heidbüchel, AT Burns, DJ Mooney, AJ Taylor, HB Pfluger, WJ Inder, AI MacIsaac, DL Prior

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise | LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS | Published : 2011

Abstract

Purpose: There is evolving evidence that intense exercise may place a disproportionate load on the right ventricle (RV) when compared with the left ventricle (LV) of the heart. Using a novel method of estimating end-systolic wall stress (ES-σ), we compared the RV and LV during exercise and assessed whether this influenced chronic ventricular remodeling in athletes. Methods: For this study, 39 endurance athletes (EA) and 14 nonathletes (NA) underwent resting cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O 2), and exercise echocardiography studies. LV and RV end-systolic wall stress (ES-σ) were calculated using the Laplace relation (ES-σ = Pr/(2h)). Ventricular size and wall thick..

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