Augustine, DX;
Willis, J;
Sivalokanathan, S;
Wild, C;
Sharma, A;
Zaidi, A;
Pearce, K;
Stuart, G;
Papadakis, M;
Sharma, S;
et al.
Augustine, DX; Willis, J; Sivalokanathan, S; Wild, C; Sharma, A; Zaidi, A; Pearce, K; Stuart, G; Papadakis, M; Sharma, S; Malhotra, A
(2024)
Right ventricular assessment of the adolescent footballer's heart.
Echo Res Pract, 11 (1).
p. 7.
ISSN 2055-0464
https://doi.org/10.1186/s44156-023-00039-4
SGUL Authors: Sharma, Sanjay
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Athletic training can result in electrical and structural changes of the right ventricle that may mimic phenotypical features of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), such as T-wave inversion and right heart dilatation. An erroneous interpretation may have consequences ranging from false reassurance in an athlete vulnerable to cardiac arrhythmias, to unnecessary sports restriction in a healthy individual. The primary aim of this study was to define normal RV dimension reference ranges for academy adolescent footballers of different ethnicities. Secondary aims include analysis of potential overlap between this adolescent group with ARVC criteria and comparison with normal adult ranges. RESULTS: Electrocardiographic (ECG) and echocardiographic data of 1087 academy male footballers aged between 13 and 18 years old (mean age 16.0 ± 0.5 years), attending mandatory cardiac screening were analysed. Ethnicity was categorised as white (n = 826), black (African/Caribbean; n = 166) and mixed-race (one parent white and one parent black; n = 95). Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy major criteria for T-wave inversion was seen in 3.3% of the cohort. This was more prevalent in black footballers (12%) when compared to mixed race footballers (6.3%) or white footballers (1%), P < 0.05. Up to 59% of the cohort exceeded adult reference ranges for some of the right ventricular parameters, although values were similar to those seen in adult footballers. There were no differences in right ventricular dimensions between ethnicities. In particular, the right ventricular outflow tract diameter would fulfil major criteria for ARVC dimension in 12% of footballers. Overall, 0.2% of the cohort would fulfil diagnosis for 'definite' arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and 2.2% would fulfil diagnosis for 'borderline' arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy for RV dimensions and ECG changes. This was seen more frequently in black footballers (9.9%) than mixed race footballers (3.9%) or white footballer (0.6%), P < 0.05. Among athletes meeting definite or borderline arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy criteria, no cardiomyopathy was identified after comprehensive clinical assessment, including with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, exercise testing, ambulatory electrocardiograms and familial evaluation. CONCLUSION: Right heart sizes in excess of accepted adult ranges occurred in as many as one in two adolescent footballers. Structural adaptations in conjunction with anterior T-wave inversion may raise concern for ARVC, highlighting the need for evaluation in expert settings.
Item Type: |
Article
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Additional Information: |
© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
Keywords: |
Athlete, Cardiomyopathy, Echocardiography, Exercise, Football, Sports cardiology, Sports cardiology, Cardiomyopathy, Exercise, Athlete, Football, Echocardiography |
Journal or Publication Title: |
Echo Res Pract |
ISSN: |
2055-0464 |
Language: |
eng |
Dates: |
Date | Event |
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29 February 2024 | Published | 11 December 2023 | Accepted |
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Publisher License: |
Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 |
Projects: |
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PubMed ID: |
38424646 |
Web of Science ID: |
WOS:001178374300001 |
![](http://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/2745237/img/27842) |
Go to PubMed abstract |
URI: |
https://openaccess.sgul.ac.uk/id/eprint/116499 |
Publisher's version: |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s44156-023-00039-4 |
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