A 24-year-old man comes to the office for an exercise evaluation. He is an avid long-distance runner. One of his team members recently died suddenly in his sleep, which made the patient worried about his health. He has no medical history, takes no medications, and does not use illicit drugs. His maternal grandfather had a heart attack at age 40 and underwent coronary artery bypass surgery. Blood pressure is 122/70 mm Hg and pulse is 49/min. Transthoracic echocardiogram shows the following: The right ventricular cavity is slightly enlarged and there are no valvular lesions. Which of the following best explains this patient's echocardiogram findings?

Question

A 24-year-old man comes to the office for an exercise evaluation.  He is an avid long-distance runner.  One of his team members recently died suddenly in his sleep, which made the patient worried about his health.  He has no medical history, takes no medications, and does not use illicit drugs.  His maternal grandfather had a heart attack at age 40 and underwent coronary artery bypass surgery.  Blood pressure is 122/70 mm Hg and pulse is 49/min.  Transthoracic echocardiogram shows the following:  The right ventricular cavity is slightly enlarged and there are no valvular lesions.  Which of the following best explains this patient's echocardiogram findings?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eductional Objective: Athlete's heart refers to physiologic cardiac adaptations that improve cardiac function in response to high-level endurance training.  There is predominant left ventricular (LV) eccentric hypertrophy with a small component of concentric hypertrophy, leading to an overall increase in LV mass, enlarged LV cavity size, slightly increased LV wall thickness, and decreased resting heart rate.

A 24-Year-Old Man Comes to the Office for an Exercise