Participation in athletics at both the recreational and competitive levels has grown enormously over the last decade, and now involves a substantial segment of the population of many countries, particularly those in Europe and North America. This change in the life-style of many individuals has been accompanied by the desire and necessity on the part of physicians to define the consequences of chronic athletic training and competition to the participant. Coincident with the of public interest in sporting competition has been the evolution and growth development of new non-invasive technologies in cardiology (such as M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography and radionuclide angiography) which have permitted investigators to study directly and more precisely the morphology and function of the heart and cardiovascular system. Hence, over the past several years our knowledge has been greatly enhanced with regard to the features of the normal 'athlete heart' and the relationship of athletic conditioning to preexistent cardiovascular disease, as well as the causes of sudden death in athletes. The present treatise on 'Sports cardiology: Exercise in Health and Cardio vascular Disease' is an impressive reference document which is also timely. It fulfills an important role in summarizing most of the available data that has been accumulated over the last 10 years in a large number of athletes participating in a variety of different sports. Drs. I. Bekaert and R.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
I Athlete s heart. - The athlete s heart: an overview. - The athlete s heart: a 100-year long discussion. - § 1. Electrocardiography in athletes. - Rhythm and conduction abnormalities. - Bradycardia, ventricular pauses and sports. - Repolarization abnormalities. - Effects of intensive physical conditioning on cardiovascular parameters in high level athletes. - Electrocardiograms of endurance athletes. - §2. Echocardiography in athletes. - Echocardiographic evaluation of the heart of athletes: cross-sectional and longitudinal observations. - Left ventricular function in athletes: analysis of relaxation. - Aerobic exercise and cardiac size: an echocardiographic study of Rotterdam marathon runners. - The windsurfer s heart. - An investigation of athlete s heart by chest X-ray, electrocardiography and echocardiography. - §3. Radionuclide scintigraphy in athletes. - Value of radionuclide angiography at rest and during exercise in the assessment of cardiac function in athletes. - Abnormal electrocardiographic exercise test in middle-aged athletes: correlation with exercise myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. - Myocardial scintigraphy and cardiospecific creatine kinase responses in female and male athletes after streneous exercise. - § 4. Athlete s bradycardia. - Carotid baroreceptor control of heart rate and physical fitness. - Beta-adrenoceptor changes in exercise and physical training. - II Exercise in healthy subjects. - Primary prevention of coronary heart disease by physical activity. - Exertional risk factors in apparently healthy males: an interim report. - III Exercise in cardiovascular disease. - The role of physical activity in post-infarct patients. - The organization and implementation of a cardiac rehabilitation program in a district general hospital. - Correlates of theeffect of physical training in cardiac patients. - Coronary collaterals: protective effects during physical training? . - Follow-up study in 25 asymptomatic sportsmen with Wolff-Parkinson-White pattern. - Sports and hypertension. - Exercise and sports in congenital heart disease. - The evaluation of exercise performance in children after surgical correction of congenital heart disease. - IV Exercise and sudden death. - Sudden death and sports. - Sudden death and vigorous exercise.
