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Background: Adverse loading conditions and cardiac injury lead to remodelling of the heart into different patterns of left ventricular (LV) geometry. Geometry can be classified into LV hypertrophy (LVH), concentric remodelling (CR) or normal geometry (NG). The prognostic implications of the different geometric patterns have been extensively studied in middle-aged subjects, but data are scarcer for elderly populations., Methods: From a community-based random sample of 75-year-old men and women, subjects with normal LVEF were selected (n = 303). All-cause and cardiovascular mortality was analysed by LV geometry with Cox regression (unadjusted and adjusted for sex, prevalent hypertension, smoking, diabetes and prevalent ischaemic heart disease). Median follow-up time was 9.9 years., Results: Prevalence of CR and LVH was 19% and 17%, respectively. Hazard ratios (HRs) for CR were 0.93 (95% CI 0.54-1.58) for all-cause and 1.13 (0.48-2.65) for cardiovascular mortality. HRs for LVH were 2.01 (1.30-3.10) for all-cause and 3.55 (1.89-6.67) for cardiovascular mortality. As non-proportionality was present in the form of an increasing hazard for LVH, we partitioned the follow-up time at the median event time (approximately 7 years) and performed Cox regression separately within each time period. HRs for LVH during the first period were 1.23 (0.63-2.42) for all-cause and 1.79 (0.69-4.65) for cardiovascular mortality, while HRs for the second period were 3.06 (1.73-5.41) for all-cause and 6.60 (2.82-15.39) for cardiovascular mortality., Conclusion: In this community-based sample of 75-year-old men and women with normal LVEF, LVH was associated with an adverse prognosis during long-term follow-up, whereas CR was not., (© 2013 Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The increase in left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume has recently been shown to explain more than 70% of the increase in stroke volume during upright exercise in endurance athletes. As the end-diastolic volume enhancement not could be explained by an increase in axial cavity length an augmentation in LV short-axis diameters is to be expected. To investigate LV end-diastolic geometrical alterations during exercise, 15 endurance athletes were examined using contrast exercise echocardiography. LV end-diastolic short-axis diameters were made from apical views at several LV cavity levels. From upright rest to upright exercise the LV end-diastolic internal cavity measurements increased significantly. During exercise, the LV cavity became geometrically more spherical with the largest increase in the LV end-diastolic short-axis cavity diameters in the mid and apical parts of the left ventricle. The LV internal long axis showed significant increase from rest to exercise but the absolute increase was small.

The aim of the present study was to quantify the left ventricular (LV) longitudinal motion during exercise at rest and during upright exercise in 24 healthy male endurance athletes. By using M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiography, the relative mitral annular motion and the absolute LV longitudinal axis was measured at end-diastole and end-systole at rest and during exercise. From rest to peak exercise at a heart rate of 160 beats per minute (bpm) the mitral annular motion increased in the septal and lateral annular borders by 68% and 49% respectively. At rest, mitral annular excursion was significantly (13%) higher in the lateral than in the septal wall but at peak exercise at a heart rate of 160 bpm there was no difference between the septal and lateral annular motion. The total end-diastolic LV axial length did not increase from rest to peak exercise. In conclusion, during upright exercise, mitral annular motion increased significantly with no difference between the septal and lateral annular excursion at peak exercise. The absolute increase in mitral annular motion during exercise was explained by a decrease in axial end-systolic length.

Doppler echocardiography was used to describe left ventricular filling and ejection during upright bicycle exercise in 24 healthy male endurance athletes. The transmitral pressure gradient was estimated and isovolumetric relaxation, filling and ejection time and transmitral and aortic flow velocities were measured at rest and during exercise. From rest to peak exercise (at a heart rate of 160 bpm), the mean left ventricular filling time was shortened by 73%, the ejection time by 31%, while the isovolumetric relaxation time was shortened by 62%. At peak exercise, the maximum aortic flow velocity almost doubled and the maximum transmitral flow velocity more than doubled, with a tenfold increase in the mean transmitral pressure gradient. The increase was significant (P<0.001) at each level of exercise. The left ventricular filling rate measured as volume per time was 185 +/- 62 ml s(-1) at rest and it increased to 986 +/- 192 ml s(-1) at peak exercise. This study demonstrates large changes in diastolic filling indices during upright exercise and it shows that the heart is able to increase its filling rate five times from rest to peak exercise.