Echocardiogram in athlete’s heart

Due to its ability to provide information on cardiac morphology, function, and hemodynamics, the use of echocardiography in athlete’s evaluation is increasing. Cardiovascular adaptations of athlete’s heart include balanced increases in all chambers: dilation, increase of wall thickness, hypertrabeculation and normal systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle; dilation of left and right atrium; increase of diameters, increase of outflow tract and normal systolic function of right ventricle. Moreover, an increase of aortic root and ascending aorta is commonly observed in athletes. In the past decades, advances in ultrasound technology have resulted in the evolution of echocardiography from the simple M-mode to two-dimensional imaging, Doppler assessments, three-dimensional anatomical imaging, and dimensional analysis of myocardial deformation. The scientific literature offers echocardiographic cutoff measures to distinguish between physiologic and pathologic cardiac adaptations.