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Differentiating Athlete’s Heart from Left Ventricle Cardiomyopathies

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Abstract

Imaging techniques have allowed knowing the structural adaptative changes observed in the hearts of highly trained athletes. Athletes can develop very marked structural changes and the need may rise for a differential diagnosis with real cardiomyopathy. In this chapter, authors review the physiologic and morphologic features associated with athletic training and the keys to differentiate normal adaptive athlete’s heart from mild or initial expression forms of left-heart side cardiomyopathies such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and left ventricle non-compaction (LVNC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Cardiovascular, Hospital Clínic, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), Barcelona, Spain

    Marc Abulí, María Sanz de la Garza & Marta Sitges

  2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV), Barcelona, Spain

    Marc Abulí, María Sanz de la Garza & Marta Sitges

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  1. Marc Abulí
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  2. María Sanz de la Garza
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  3. Marta Sitges
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Correspondence to Marc Abulí.

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Associate Editor Domingo A. Pascual-Figal oversaw the review of this article

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Abulí, M., de la Garza, M.S. & Sitges, M. Differentiating Athlete’s Heart from Left Ventricle Cardiomyopathies. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 13, 265–273 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-020-10021-8

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