A recent study in Australia suggests that cardiologists should test the heart during exercise, rather than at rest, to detect right ventricle arrhythmias that can be lethal to athletes. Endurance athletes with right ventricle arrythmias had ventricles that were dilated and did not contract adequately to handle the increased work of exercise. This was not evident when these athletes were tested at rest. A larger prospective study of asymptomatic athletes is needed to determine the prevalence of this problem.
The larger issue in the U.S. is whether pre-participation screening should include cardiac evaluation with tests such as EKG or cardiac ultrasound as in done in many other countries. What do you think?
