ABSTRACT
Adult and adolescent elite black athletes display - as compared with their white counterparts - excessively increased left ventricle (LV) wall thickness (LVWT), mass (LVM), and relative wall thickness (RWT). To investigate such ethnicity-related differences in non-professional adolescent athletes, 138 male, amateur football players [age 14.0 ± 1.7 years, 42 West-African blacks (BA) and 96 Italian whites (WA)] underwent an echocardiographic study of LV diameters, LVWT, maximal wall thickness (MWT), LVM, and RWT as remodeling index. BA vs WA exhibited greater thickness of septum and posterior wall, higher MWT (10.3 ± 1.7 vs 8.8 ± 1.1 mm), and higher LVM (117 ± 27 vs 101 ± 20 g/m(2)) and RWT (0.44 ± 0.07 vs 0.35 ± 0.04). Age, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and ethnicity predicted MWT and LVM, whereas ethnicity was the sole strong predictor of RWT. The greater MWT, LVWT, and LVM of 14-year-old, amateur-level BA vs WA indicates that ethnicity substantially affects LV structure in adolescent, non-professional athletes. In contrast with MWT and LVM, elevated RWT was predicted by black ethnicity only. We suggest that concentric-type LV remodeling is a peculiar LV phenotype in adolescent African athletes.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Physiological , Athletes , Black People , Heart Ventricles/diagnostic imaging , Soccer , Ventricular Remodeling , White People , Adolescent , Africa, Western/ethnology , Blood Pressure , Body Mass Index , Child , Echocardiography , Humans , Italy , Male , Organ SizeABSTRACT
The cardiovascular system is frequently affected in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The observation of clinical manifestations related to the presence of coronary artery disease has not been frequently documented in young SLE patients. In these patients, the presence of inflammatory or thrombotic vascular lesions is often documented by anatomo-histological studies in the absence of previous clinical manifestations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of myocardial perfusion defects in SLE patients. The study was carried out in 15 patients without clinical signs of myocardial ischemia, 1 male and 14 females, 24 to 64 years old, with a mean SLE duration of 10.2 +/- 7.5 years. All the patients had normal blood pressure; electrocardiogram and Doppler-echocardiographic analysis showed values in the normal range. All the patients underwent thallium-201 exercise stress imaging repeated 3 hours later at rest, with tomographic SPECT analysis. Exercise test was carried out until submaximal load, without induction of ST segment alterations or symptoms. Scintigraphic scan showed normal thallium-201 SPECT imaging in 11/15 patients, while the other 4 patients had a slight perfusion defect, 3 of them in the inferior segment, in 2 non reversible and in 1 reversible; 1 patient had a non reversible defect in the septal segment. These slight perfusion defects, prevalently non reversible, may sometimes be a false positive imaging. Our results are in contrast with the literature observations concerning the frequent incidence of thallium-201 perfusion defects in SLE patients. In young asymptomatic SLE patients, our study does not report very important data indicating myocardial ischemia and suggesting the presence of significant coronary obstruction or vasculitis.
Subject(s)
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/complications , Myocardial Ischemia/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon , Adult , Echocardiography, Doppler , Electrocardiography , Exercise Test , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Ischemia/diagnosis , Thallium Radioisotopes , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) is known to cause abnormal rest electrocardiogram and stress test. Thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy has been particularly indicated for the noninvasive evaluation of coronary artery disease in these patients. The study group consisted of 11 WPW patients with abnormal ST-segment depression at rest electrocardiogram and/or stress test, with the absence of signs or symptoms of coronary artery disease. All the patients underwent exercise thallium-201 imaging associated with stress test by bicycle ergometer: 7 of them had ST-segment depression, but without other signs or symptoms of coronary artery disease. Transient and moderate myocardial perfusion defects were found in 5 of 11 patients. Perfusion defects in patients with WPW could derive from dyssynergy of ventricular activation, which could modify myocardial perfusion scintigraphy despite the absence of angiographic coronary stenosis. Previous reports and our data concluded that transient perfusion defects during exercise thallium-201 testing in WPW patients without cardiovascular disease may be observed. Thus, thallium-201 myocardial scintigraphy could present some limitations as a helpful adjunctive method for assessment of coronary artery disease in WPW patients.
Subject(s)
Heart/diagnostic imaging , Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome/diagnostic imaging , Adult , Electrocardiography , Exercise Test , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Thallium Radioisotopes , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-PhotonABSTRACT
Electrocardiographic abnormalities are commonly seen with tumor invasion of the heart, but usually these abnormalities are not specific. Pronounced and prolonged lateral ST segment elevation in the absence of myocardial infarction occurred in a patient with epidermoid carcinoma of the left lung. Computer tomography showed the presence of tumor invasion of the heart. Prolonged ST segment elevation in the absence of Q waves seems to be a pathognomonic sign for tumor invasion of the heart.
