The Athlete’s Heart: A Physiological or a Pathological Phenomenon?

Sudden Cardiac Death in Athletes: Rethinking “Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy”

“…This has been a concern since Henschen first used chest percussion to describe cardiac enlargement in cross-country skiers over one hundred years ago. A century of experience indicating the well-being of sports competitors with the features of the "athlete's heart" has lead to the reassuring conclusion that this condition is "a physiologic and positive phenomenon" despite radiologic, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic features that often mimic those of heart disease (39,46). This conclusion that such findings are benign in trained athletes does not preclude the possibility, however, that in remarkably unusual cases training-induced hypertrophy might become extreme and serve as a substrate for ventricular dysrhythmias and sudden death during sports play.…”