„Athletenherz“

Cardiologists are often confronted with abnormal findings in routine resting electrocardiography (ECG) and echocardiography of physically active individuals and athletes. These may represent physiological adaptations to training or may be characteristic for cardiomyopathy or other diseases associated with increased incidence of sudden cardiac death. In order to differentiate physiological from pathophysiological findings, background information on athlete’s heart as well as pathologies, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) or channelopathies (e.g. long QT and short QT syndrome) is needed. This will be presented and explained in the following article.