Myocardial Dystrophy in Athletes

Abstract

It is recognized that moderate and properly selected physical exercises play an important role in strengthening of health and prophylaxis of diseases of cardiovascular system (CVS) (Blair et al, 1989). On the contrary, excessive physical loads, so typical of modern sports, can result in overstrain of CVS. Today different causes of high risk of sudden death due to physical loads (Jaeger, 1990; Maron, 1993), high frequency of various arrhythmias and idiopathic calcinosis of valve apparatus and under valvular structures in athletes are widely discussed in the literature. These facts are explained in absolutely different ways among which the least attention is given to the role of CVS overstrain and possibility of “pathologic athlete’s heart”. The concept of “pathologic athlete’s heart” and myocardial dystrophy (MD) was proposed by G.Ph. Lang (1936). The term MD in the narrow sense of the ‘word was considered by G.Ph. Lang as all myocardial impairments of non-inflammatory and non-coronary genesis provoked by various extracardiac causes. To indicate the myocardial impairments in athletes, the term MD due to physical overload was proposed later (Dembo, 1991). A.G. Dembo proposed that this diagnosis be applied in all cases of repolarisation disturbances (RD) on the resting ECG.