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Background: Participation of amateur runners in endurance races continues to increase. Previous studies of marathon runners have raised concerns about exercise-induced myocardial and renal dysfunction and damage. In our pooled analysis, we aimed to characterize changes of cardiac and renal function after marathon running in a large cohort of mostly elderly amateur marathon runners., Methods: A total of 167 participants of the Berlin-Marathon (female n = 89, male n = 78; age = 50.3 ± 11.4 years) were included and cardiac and renal function was analyzed prior to, immediately after and 2 weeks following the race by echocardiography and blood tests (including cardiac troponin T, NT-proBNP and cystatin C)., Results: Among the runners, 58% exhibited a significant increase in cardiac biomarkers after completion of the marathon. Overall, the changes in echocardiographic parameters for systolic or diastolic left and right ventricular function did not indicate relevant myocardial dysfunction. Notably, 30% of all participants showed >25% decrease in cystatin C-estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) from baseline directly after the marathon; in 8%, we observed a decline of more than 50%. All cardiac and renal parameters returned to baseline ranges within 2 weeks after the marathon., Conclusions: The increase in cardiac biomarkers after completing a marathon was not accompanied by relevant cardiac dysfunction as assessed by echocardiography. After the race, a high proportion of runners experienced a decrease in cystatin C-estimated GFR, which is suggestive of transient, exercise-related alteration of renal function. However, we did not observe persistent detrimental effects on renal function.

Purpose: Diastolic dysfunction is common among elderly women. Recently, concerns regarding marathon-induced myocardial damage were raised among young male runners. The goal of our study was to assess the impact of marathon running on systolic and diastolic ventricular function before and immediately after completing a marathon among postmenopausal well-trained amateur women., Methods: A total of 89 female runners of the Berlin Marathon were included (35 postmenopausal and 54 premenopausal female controls) and examined before, immediately, and 2 weeks after the race by echocardiography (including tissue Doppler- and 2D strain speckle tracking) and underwent blood tests., Results: After the marathon, there was a significant increase in E/E' (postmenopausal 8.5 ± 2.3 vs. 10.9 ± 3.2 post race; control: 8.1 ± 1.8 vs. 9.9 ± 2.9 post race, p < 0.001) and a decrease in E/A in both groups (postmenopausal 1.3 ± 0.36 vs. 0.9 ± 0.21 post race; control 1.7 ± 0.6 vs. 1.1 ± 0.3; p < 0.001). In contrast, regardless of the hormonal status the atrial contraction increased significantly. Left and right ventricular systolic contractility, as assessed by speckle tracking and pulsed-wave tissue Doppler velocities, showed a significant increase in both groups. Of all runners, 55 (61.8%) experienced increases in troponin T and/or N-terminal-B-type natriuretic peptide after the race. All echocardiographic and laboratory parameters returned to normal within 2 weeks., Conclusions: 2D strain analysis of the left and right ventricles showed an acute improvement of the systolic function after marathon running in pre- and postmenopausal well-trained women. There were no long lasting detrimental effects on the diastolic function., (© The European Society of Cardiology 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.)

Background: Subclinical myocardial involvement is common in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and associated with poor prognosis. Early detection, particularly during follow-up, is important. Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) has already been shown to detect early left ventricular systolic impairment in SSc patients with advanced disease. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of STE to diagnose changes in left ventricular function in patients with SSc with preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and normal pulmonary pressure over time., Methods: This single-center pilot study included nineteen SSc patients without pulmonary hypertension and preserved LVEF (55.2 ± 10.8 years, 13 women, mean modified Rodnan Skin Score of 8.2 ± 6.5, median disease duration 6 ± 4.5 years). We performed STE at baseline and after two years (mean 756.6 ± 8.8 days). Pulmonary hypertension was ruled out in all patients by right heart catheterization (average mean PAP 17.7 ± 3.5 mmHg)., Results: The LVEF remained unchanged (63.3 ± 4.2% vs. 63.2 ± 5.0%, P = ns), but the global longitudinal peak systolic strain of the left ventricle was significantly lower: baseline -22.0 ± 2.3% vs. follow-up -20.8 ± 2.1% (P = 0.04). The regional analysis showed a heterogeneous distribution of segmental systolic dysfunction that did not match any particular coronary artery distribution. In contrast, the LV diastolic function remained stable during follow-up., Conclusion: STE might be a sensititive and valuable method to detect early LV systolic impairment in patients with SSc and preserved LVEF during two years. Prospective evaluations are needed for prognostic implications of these changes.

Background: Regular physical activity reduces cardiovascular risk. There is concern that Marathon running might acutely damage the heart. It is unknown to what extent intensive physical endurance activity influences the cardiac mechanics at resting condition., Methods: Eighty-four amateur marathon runners (43 women and 41 men) from Berlin-Brandenburg area who had completed at least one marathon previously underwent clinical examination and echocardiography at least 10 days before the Berlin Marathon at rest. Standard transthoracic echocardiography and 2D strain and strain rate analysis were performed. The 2D Strain and strain rate values were compared to previous published data of healthy untrained individuals., Results: The average global longitudinal peak systolic strain of the left ventricle was -23 +/- 2% with peak systolic strain rate -1.39 +/- 0.21/s, early diastolic strain rate 2.0 +/- 0.40/s and late diastolic strain rate 1.21 +/- 0.31/s. These values are significantly higher compared to the previous published values of normal age-adjusted individuals. In addition, no age-related decline of longitudinal contractility in well-trained athletes was observed., Conclusions: There is increased overall longitudinal myocardial contractility at rest in experienced endurance athletes compared to the published normal values in the literature indicating a preserved and even supra-normal contractility in the athletes. There is no age dependent decline of the longitudinal 2D Strain values. This underlines the beneficial effects of regular physical exercise even in advanced age.

Aims: Myocardial involvement is associated with poor prognosis in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) is a powerful novel modality for the assessment of subclinical cardiac left ventricular (LV) dysfunction that, so far, has not been investigated in SSc patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate deformation analyses derived from STE for early detection of LV systolic dysfunction in patients with SSc having preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)., Methods and Results: Twenty-two patients with SSc (57.1 ± 13.3 years, LVEF 64 ± 3.1%, mean time of 5.4 ± 4.6 years from diagnosis) and 22 gender- and age-matched healthy subjects (57.4 ± 14.0 years, LVEF 65 ± 2.7%) underwent echocardiography with STE to assess global and regional LV function. The global longitudinal 2D peak systolic strain (PSS) of the left ventricle was significantly lower in the SSc group compared with controls: -19.0 ± 2.4 vs. -21.1 ± 2.5% (P = 0.008). This was mainly driven by a reduced strain in the basal segments. Strain in the medial segments and in the apex did not differ significantly. In addition, there was a significant difference between both groups regarding the global longitudinal PSS rate of the left ventricle (-1.19 ± 0.18 vs. -1.43 ± 0.26 s(-1), P = 0.001)., Conclusion: LV deformation analysis by STE is a sensitive method to detect early LV systolic impairment primarily in the basal segments in patients with SSc having preserved LVEF.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a promising therapy for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and high perioperative risk. New echocardiographic methods, including 2D Strain analysis, allow the more accurate measurement of left ventricular (LV) systolic function. The goal of this study was to describe the course of LV reverse remodelling immediately after TAVI in a broad spectrum of patients with symptomatic severe aortic valve stenosis., Methods: Thirty consecutive patients with symptomatic aortic valve stenosis and preserved LVEF underwent transfemoral aortic valve implantation. We performed echocardiography at baseline and one week after TAVI. Echocardiography included standard 2D and Doppler analysis of global systolic and diastolic function as well as 2D Strain measurements of longitudinal, radial and circumferential LV motion and Tissue Doppler echocardiography., Results: The baseline biplane LVEF was 57 ± 8.2%, the mean pressure gradient was 46.8 ± 17.2 mmHg and the mean valve area was 0.73 ± 0.27 cm(2). The average global longitudinal 2D strain of the left ventricle improved significantly from -15.1 (± 3.0) to -17.5 (± 2.4) % (p < .001). This was reflected mainly in improvement in the basal and medial segments while strain in the apex did not change significantly [-11.6 (± 5.2) % to -15.1 (± 5.5) % (p < .001), -13.9 (± 5.1) % to -16.8 (± 5.6) % (p < .001) and -19.2 (± 7.0) % to -20.0 (± 7.2) % (p = .481) respectively]. While circumferential strain [-18.1 (± 5.1) % vs. -18.9 (± 4.2) %, p = .607], radial strain [36.5 (± 13.7) % vs. 39.7 (± 17.2) %, p = .458] and the LVEF remained unchanged after one week [57.0 (± 8.2) % vs. 59.1 (± 8.1) %, p = .116]., Conclusion: There is an acute improvement of myocardial longitudinal systolic function of the basal and medial segments measured by 2D Strain analysis immediately after TAVI. The radial, circumferential strain and LVEF does not change significantly in all patients acutely after TAVI. These data suggest that sensitive new echo methods can reliably detect early regional changes of myocardial function after TAVI before benefits in LVEF are detectable.

Background: Established methods to determine asynchrony suffer from high intra- and interobserver variability and failed to improve patient selection for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Thus, there is a need for easy and robust approaches to reliably assess cardiac asynchrony., Methods and Results: We performed echocardiography in 100 healthy subjects and 33 patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB). To detect intraventricular asynchrony, we combined two established methods, i.e., tissue synchronization imaging (TSI) and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). The time intervals from the onset of aortic valve opening (AVO) to the peak systolic velocity (S') were measured separately in six basal segments in the apical four-, two-, and three-chamber view. Color-coded TSI served as an intrinsic plausibility control and helped to identify the correct S' measuring point in the TDI curves. Next, we identified the segment with the shortest AVO-S' interval. Since this segment most likely represents vital and intact myocardium it served as a reference for other segments. Segments were considered asynchronous when the delay between the segment in question and the reference segment was above the upper limit of normal delays derived from the control population. Intra- and interobserver variability were 7.0% and 7.7%, respectively., Conclusion: Our results suggest that combination of TDI and TSI with intrinsic plausibility control improves intra- and interobserver variability and allows easy and reliable assessment of cardiac asynchrony.

Background: Cardiac resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is an effective therapy for chronic heart failure with beneficial hemodynamic effects leading to a reduction of morbidity and mortality. The responder rates, however, are low. There are various and contentious echocardiographic parameters of myocardial asynchrony. Patient selection by echocardiographic assessment of asynchrony is thought to improve responder rates., Methods: In this small single-center pilot-study, seven established parameters of myocardial asynchrony were used to select patients for CRT: (1) interventricular electromechanical delay (IMD, cut-off > or = 40 ms), (2) Septal-to-posterior wall motion delay (SPWMD, > or = 130 ms), (3) maximal difference in time-to-peak velocities between any two of twelve LV segments (Ts-12 > or = 104 ms), (4) standard deviation of time to peak myocardial velocities (Ts-12-SD, > or = 34.4 ms), (5) difference between the septal and basal time-to-peak velocity (TDId, > or = 60 ms), (6) left ventricular electromechanical delay (LVEMD, > 140 ms) and (7) delayed longitudinal contraction (DLC, > 2 segments).16 chronic heart failure patients (NYHA III-IV, LVEF < 0.35, QRS > or = 120 ms) at least two out of seven parameters of myocardial asynchrony received cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-ICD). Follow-up echo examination was after 6 months. The control group was a historic group of CRT patients (n = 38) who had not been screened for echocardiographic signs of myocardial asynchrony prior to device implantation., Results: Based on reverse remodeling (relative reduction of LVESV > 15%, relative increase of LVEF > 25%), the responder rate to CRT was 81.2% in patients selected for CRT according to our protocol as compared to 47.4% in the control group (p = 0.04). At baseline, there were on average 4.1 +/- 1.6 positive parameters of asynchrony (follow-up: 3.7 [+/- 1.6] parameters positive, p = 0.52). Only the LVEMD decreased significantly after CRT (p = 0.027). The remaining parameters showed a non-significant trend towards reduction of myocardial asynchrony., Conclusion: The implementation of different markers of asynchrony in the selection process for CRT improves the hemodynamic response rate to CRT.

Introduction: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) leads to hemodynamic and clinical improvement in patients with heart failure. This study compares the new technique of 2-dimensional (2D) strain imaging with Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) in the prediction of the long-term response to CRT., Methods: In all, 38 patients with heart failure (New York Heart Association II-III, QRS > 120 milliseconds, left ventricular ejection fraction < 0.35) received CRT and echocardiographic evaluation with a mean follow-up of 9.4 months., Results: Of the patients, 47.4% were hemodynamic responders to long-term CRT. In the responder group, the maximum delay in the longitudinal and radial 2D strain in the basal segments and the maximum delay in the DTI peak systolic myocardial velocities but not DTI strain decreased. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, the baseline delay of DTI peak velocities predicts improvement after CRT, whereas baseline 2D- and DTI-strain measurements fail to predict a long-term response to CRT., Conclusion: Although there is a significant decrease in longitudinal and radial 2D strain-derived delays after CRT, the resulting predictive value is not superior to DTI.

Background: Contrast echocardiography is a precise tool for the non-invasive assessment of myocardial function and perfusion. Side effects of contrast echocardiography resulting from contrast-agent induced myocardial micro-lesions have been found in animals. The goal of this study is to measure markers of myocardial necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in humans to evaluate potential side-effects of contrast echocardiography., Methods: 20 patients who underwent contrast echocardiography with Optison as the contrast medium were investigated. To evaluate myocardial micro-necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-6, -8 and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were measured at baseline and at 2, 4, 8 and 24 hours after contrast echocardiography., Results: At baseline, 50% of the patients had cTnI and TBARS values outside the reference range. TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8 levels were within the reference range. Patients with cTnI above the RR clustered to significantly higher levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6. After contrast echocardiography, no statistically significant increase of cTnI, cytokines and TBARS was found. However, for nearly 50% of the patients, the intra-individual cTnI kinetics crossed the critical difference (threefold of methodical variation) which indicates a marker increase. This was neither predicted by the baseline levels of the cytokines nor the markers of oxidative stress., Conclusion: There are no clinically relevant increases in serum markers for micro-necrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in humans after contrast echocardiography. Future studies have to address whether cTnI increase in some patients represent a subset with increased risk for side effects after contrast echocardiography.