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Athlete’s heart or cardiomyopathy?

Sports Cardiology Quiz

13 Jan 2016
Finocchiaro

Dr. Gherardo Finocchiaro

Papadakis

Prof. Michael Papadakis , FESC

Sharma

Prof. Sanjay Sharma , FESC

Risk Factors and Prevention


A 52-year-old Caucasian veteran triathlete is admitted to hospital with chest pain. He continues to compete on a regular basis and trains 6 hours per week. He doesn’t have any coronary risk factors and he is not on any regular medication. There is no family history of premature sudden cardiac death or cardiomyopathy. Clinical examination is unremarkable. He is kept under observation at the emergency department for twelve hours and repeat troponin tests are normal. An echocardiogram is performed and reported to be in keeping with athlete’s heart, thus he is reassured and discharged.

His 12-lead ECG on admission is presented below. 

Case_Image_ECG apical-HCM_Jan2016_big.JPG

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Note: The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the author and may not be accepted by others. While every attempt is made to keep the information up to date, there is always going to be a lag in updating information. The reader is encouraged to read this in conjunction with appropriate ESC Guidelines. The material on this page is for educational purposes and is not for use as a definitive management strategy in the care of patients. Quiz material in the site are only examples and do not guarantee outcomes from formal examinations.

References

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Notes to editor

Dr Gherardo Finocchiaro, Clinical research fellow, St George’s university of London
Dr Michael Papadakis, Lecturer in cardiology, St George’s university of London
Prof Sanjay Sharma, Professor of clinical cardiology, St George’s university of London
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