ABSTRACT
The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) has been linked to acute cardiovascular events in athletes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the aortic elastic properties in athletes who had been self-administering AAS compared with a group of athletes not using these drugs. Fourteen male bodybuilders using AAS and 27 male wrestlers (non-users) volunteered to the study. All subjects were placed in a mild recumbent position and the ascending aorta was recorded in the two-dimensional guided M-mode tracings. Although the aortic distensibility was found to be reduced in user athletes (2.1+/-1.1 vs. 3.8+/-1.4 cm(2) dyn(-1) 10(-6), p=0.01; 9.3+/-3.7 vs. 5.9+/-2.5, p=0.003, respectively). The results of this study indicate that aortic stiffness is increasing in athletes using AAS.
Subject(s)
Anabolic Agents/pharmacology , Androgens/pharmacology , Aorta/physiology , Doping in Sports , Sports/physiology , Steroids/pharmacology , Adult , Elasticity/drug effects , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome has been linked to cardiovascular complications. The diagnosis of effects of sleep apnea on heart may be difficult before apparent examination findings. The aim of the present study was to evaluate changes of myocardial contractile properties in patients affected by sleep apnea showing tissue Doppler imaging, in the face of quite normal myocardial contractility on standard echocardiography. Shortly, tissue Doppler imaging may represent an early stage of myocardial abnormality despite a preserved global function.
Subject(s)
Cardiomyopathies/diagnostic imaging , Cardiomyopathies/etiology , Sleep Apnea, Obstructive/complications , Adult , Cardiomyopathies/physiopathology , Echocardiography, Doppler/methods , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial ContractionABSTRACT
Calcium sensitizers also improve cardiac function by increasing the contraction of the myocardium without significantly increasing intracellular calcium levels. Although right ventricular function is an important role for better cardiac global function, there is no study about effects of levosimendan on right ventricular function measured by tissue Doppler imaging. The aim of the present study was to evaluate changes of myocardial properties in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy using tissue Doppler imaging after levosimendan infusion. This tissue Doppler study shows that levosimendan also affects myocardial especially systolic waves of right ventricle and those of left ventricle.
