Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2011 | Case report
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ultra-endurance running - two incompatible entities?
Authors:
Mathew G Wilson, Navin Chandra, Michael Papadakis, Rory O'Hanlon, Sanjay K Prasad, Sanjay Sharma
Published in:
Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
|
Issue 1/2011
Login to get access
Abstract
Regular and prolonged exercise is associated with increased left ventricular wall thickness that can overlap with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Differentiating physiological from pathological hypertrophy has important implications, since HCM is the commonest cause of exercise-related sudden cardiac death in young individuals. Most deaths have been reported in intermittent 'start-stop' sports such as football (soccer) and basketball. The theory is that individuals with HCM are unable to augment stroke volume sufficiently to meet the demands of endurance sports and are accordingly 'selected-out' of participation in such events. We report the case of an ultra-endurance athlete with 25 years of > 50 km competitive running experience, with genetically confirmed HCM; thereby demonstrating that these can be two compatible entities.