COMPARISON OF ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY WITH MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN THEASSESSMENT OF THE ATHLETES HEART

Aim The purpose of the study was to compare the accuracy of M-mode ech ocardiography and two different two-dimensional echocardiographic appr oaches in the assessment of left ventricular mass and volumes in endur ance-trained and strength-trained athletes, using magnetic resonance i maging as reference standard. Methods and results We studied 19 athlet es and IO untrained control subjects, M-mode and two-dimensional echoc ardiography were compared to magnetic resonance imaging. M-mode echoca rdiographic left Ventricular mass was calculated using the Penn cube c onvention. Two-dimensional echocardiographic left ventricular mass was calculated using (1) the area-length method as proposed by the Americ an Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and (2) as proposed by Reichek. T he best correlation between magnetic resonance imaging and echocardiog raphic left ventricular mass and volumes was observed with the ASE two -dimensional echocardiographic method. The agreement between them (-3. 4 +/- 7.6 g and 18.5 +/- 19.5 ml) was better than between Reichek two- dimensional echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (-39.4+/-1 5.4-g and 52.8+/-21.7 ml), and demonstrated less random difference tha n M-mode echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (3.2+/-21.1 g resp. 15.1+/-30.0 ml). Conclusion We conclude that the ASE two-dimens ional echocardiographic approach, when using magnetic resonance imagin g as a reference standard, was the most accurate estimator of left ven tricular mass and volumes in both controls and athletes.