Right Ventricular Global and Regional Remodeling in American-Style Football Athletes: A Longitudinal 3D Echocardiographic Study

Abstract

Few data exist concerning the right ventricular (RV) physiological adaptation in American-style football (ASF) athletes. We aimed to analyze the RV global and regional responses among ASF-trained athletes. Fifty-nine (20 linemen and 39 non-linemen) ASF athletes were studied before and after inter-seasonal training. During this period, which lasted 7 months, all athletes were exposed to combined dynamic and static exercises. Cardiac longitudinal changes were examined using three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography. A computational method based on geodesic distances was applied to volumetrically parcellate the RV into apical, outlet, and inlet regions. RV global and regional end-diastolic volumes increased significantly and similarly in linemen and non-linemen after training, with predominant changes in the apex and outlet regions. RV global and regional ejection fractions were preserved. Morphological changes were uniformly distributed among the four cardiac chambers, and it was independent of the field position. Assessment of RV end-diastolic global, inlet and apical volumes showed low intra-observer (3.3%, 4.1%, and 5.3%, respectively) and inter-observer (7%, 12.2%, and 9%, respectively) variability, whereas the outlet regional volumetric assessment was less reproducible. To conclude, ASF inter-seasonal training was associated with a proportionate biventricular enlargement, regardless of the field position. Regional RV analysis allowed us to quantify the amount of exercise-induced remodeling that was larger in the apical and outlet regions.