Discrimination between physiologic and pathologic left ventricular dilatation

The identification of certain cardiovascular disease in athletes may constitute the basis for disqualification from competition in an effort to minimize the risk of sudden cardiac death. The aim of this study was to assess diastolic and systolic parameters measured by tissue Doppler imaging in endurance veteran athletes who had prominent cardiac dilatation and patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in order to determine whether these variables might differentiate each other.