Sports Cardiology—an Emerging Topic
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Sport and Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 2676
Special Issue Editor
Interests: sports medicine; sports cardiology; pre-participation screening; sports injury rehabilitation; echocardiography; musculoskeletal ultrasound
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sports cardiology is a relatively novel and emerging sub-speciality and therefore the evidence base for the natural history of disease progression or risk of death during intensive exercise and competitive sport among individuals with CVD is relatively sparse.
During the last several decades, lots of people all over the world are being diagnosed with coronary artery syndromes, heart failure, valvular heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, congenital heart disease, aortopathies and cardiomyopathies, while others face lethal arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death due to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis. New diagnostic methods have contributed to the early diagnosis and risk stratification of cardiovascular disease. Regular physical activity, including structured exercise training programmes, is an important component of treatment strategies for stable cardiovascular disease, and is associated with favourable outcomes including improved quality of life and reduced cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. The process from the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease until patients’ participation in exercise training programmes is of paramount importance to achieve optimal outcome. However, this is a complex procedure, including a multidisciplinary approach and several stages such as screening, diagnosis, risk stratification, shared decision making with physicians and secondary prevention and treatment through exercise protocols, defining the appropriate duration and intensity individualized for each patient.
The term “athlete’s heart” refers to a spectrum of morphological and functional changes that occur in people who practice regular and long-term intense physical activity. The morphological characteristics of the athlete’s heart may overlap with certain structural cardiac diseases, including cardiomyopathies such as hypertrophic or arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. While overdiagnosis should be avoided in this population, an early identification of underlying life-threatening cardiac disorders is essential to reduce the potential for sudden cardiac death. A multi-modality approach including rest and exercise electrocardiography, speckle tracking echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, computed tomography, nuclear scintigraphy and genetic testing can be essential in distinguishing extreme physiology adaptations from structural cardiac diseases during the athlete’s cardiovascular evaluation. In this setting, cardiovascular imaging plays a key role in the detection of structural abnormalities in athletes who fall in the grey zone between physiological adaptations and a covert cardiovascular pathology.
We are pleased to invite authors to submit original research articles, recommendation articles, and reviews covering all aspects of sports cardiology, from diagnosis to clinical management, exercise prescription, and recommendation for these subjects.
Dr. Stefano Palermi
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- athlete's heart
- cardiovascular adaptation
- physical activity
- cardiovascular imaging
- sudden cardiac death
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