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BJSM Online First, published on January 29, 2011 as 10.1136/bjsm.2010.077669 Original article
Head-to-head comparison between echocardiography and cardiac MRI in the evaluation of the athlete’s heart Niek H J Prakken,1 Arco J Teske,2 Maarten J Cramer,2 Arend Mosterd,2–4 Annieke C Bosker,1 Willem P Mali,1 Pieter A Doevendans,2 Birgitta K Velthuis1 1Department
of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands 3 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands 4 Department of Cardiology, Meander Medical Center, Amersfoort, The Netherlands Correspondence to Mr Arco J Teske, University Medical Center Utrecht, Division of Heart and Lungs, Department of Cardiology, HP F.02.352, Heidelberglaan100, 3582 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands,
[email protected] NHJP and AJT have joint first authorship. Accepted 4 October 2010
ABSTRACT Objective Echocardiographic cut-off values are often used for cardiac MRI in athletic persons. This study investigates the difference between echocardiographic and cardiac MRI measurements of ventricular and atrial dimensions and ventricular wall thickness, and its effect on volume and wall mass prediction in athletic subjects compared with non-athletic controls. Methods Healthy non-athletic (59), regular athletic (59) and elite athletic (63) persons, aged 18–39 years and training 2.5±1.9, 13.0±3.0 and 25.0±5.4 h/week, respectively (p
