Department I - Preventative and Rehabilitative Sports and Performance Medicine, German Sports University Cologne, Institute of Cardiology and Sports Medicine, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933, Cologne, Germany.
Department II - Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine, German Sports University Cologne, Institute of Cardiology and Sports Medicine, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933, Cologne, Germany.
Int J Cardiovasc Imaging. 2020 Jun;36(6):1085-1096. doi: 10.1007/s10554-020-01809-5. Epub 2020 Mar 13.
Cardiac adaptations to exercise on an elite level have been well studied. Strain analysis by speckle tracking echocardiography has emerged as a tool for sports cardiologists to assess the nature of hypertrophy in athletes' hearts. In prior studies, strain values generally did not change in physiological adaptations to exercise but were reduced in pathological hypertrophy. However, research in this field has focused almost solely on male athletes. Purpose of the present study is to investigate strain values in the hearts of female elite athletes in football and volleyball. In this cross-sectional study echocardiography was performed on 19 female elite football-players, 16 female elite volleyball-players and 16 physically inactive controls. Conventional echocardiographic data was documented as well as left ventricular longitudinal, radial and circumferential strain values gained by speckle tracking echocardiography. The hearts of the female athletes had a thicker septal wall, a larger overall mass and larger atria than the hearts in the control group. Global longitudinal, radial and circumferential strain values did not differ between the athletes and controls or between sporting disciplines. No correlation between septal wall thickness and global strain values could be documented. Cardiac adaptations to elite level exercise in female volleyball and football players do not influence global strain values. This has been documented for male athletes of several disciplines. The present study adds to the very limited control-group comparisons of left ventricular strain values in elite female athletes. The findings indicate that global strain values can be used when assessing the cardiac health in female athletes.
对精英运动员的运动适应的心脏适应性已经得到了很好的研究。斑点追踪超声心动图的应变分析已成为运动心脏病学家评估运动员心脏肥大性质的工具。在先前的研究中，应变值在运动引起的生理适应中通常不会改变，但在病理性肥大中会降低。然而，该领域的研究几乎完全集中在男性运动员身上。本研究的目的是研究足球和排球等女性精英运动员的心脏应变值。在这项横断面研究中，对 19 名女性精英足球运动员、16 名女性精英排球运动员和 16 名非运动对照组进行了超声心动图检查。记录了常规超声心动图数据以及通过斑点追踪超声心动图获得的左心室纵向、径向和周向应变值。与对照组相比，女性运动员的心脏室间隔壁更厚，整体质量更大，心房更大。运动员和对照组之间或运动学科之间的整体纵向、径向和周向应变值没有差异。不能记录室间隔壁厚度与整体应变值之间的相关性。女性排球和足球运动员的精英运动水平的心脏适应不会影响整体应变值。这已经在多个学科的男性运动员中得到了证明。本研究增加了对精英女性运动员左心室应变值的非常有限的对照组比较。研究结果表明，在评估女性运动员的心脏健康时，可以使用整体应变值。
