Assessment of myocardial response to physical exercise in endurance competitive athletes by pulsed doppler tissue imaging

To evaluate myocardial effort response of the trained heart, pulsed Doppler tissue imaging of the basal left ventricular inferior wall was performed in 25 long-distance swimmers both at rest and at peak effort. Based on independent positive associations, found between both myocardial systolic and diastolic peak velocities and stroke volume at peak effort, our findings show the ability of the trained heart to activate an effective Frank-Starling mechanism also during exercise.