• Heart Rhythm · Nov 2014

    Benign clinical significance of J-wave pattern (early repolarization) in highly trained athletes.

    • Filippo M Quattrini, Antonio Pelliccia, Riccardo Assorgi, Fernando M DiPaolo, Maria Rosaria Squeo, Franco Culasso, Vincenzo Castelli, Mark S Link, and Barry J Maron.
    • Institute of Sport Medicine and Science, Italian National Olympic Committee, Rome, Italy.
    • Heart Rhythm. 2014 Nov 1; 11 (11): 1974-82.

    BackgroundJ wave/QRS slurring (early repolarization) on 12-lead ECG has been associated with increased risk for ventricular fibrillation in the absence of cardiovascular (CV) disease.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and clinical significance of J wave/QRS slurring in a large population of competitive athletes.MethodsSeven hundred four athletes (436 males [62%], age 25 ± 5 years) free of CV disease who had engaged in 30 different sports were examined. Serial clinical, ECG, and echocardiographic evaluations were available over 1 to 18 years of follow-up (mean 6 ± 4 years).ResultsJ wave was found in 102 athletes (14%) and was associated with QRS slurring in 32 (4%). It was found most commonly in anterior, lateral, and inferior leads (n = 73 [72%]), occasionally in lateral leads (n = 26 [25%]), and rarely in inferior leads (n = 3 [3%]). Most of 102 athletes (n = 86 [84%]) also showed ST-segment elevation. J wave/QRS slurring was associated with other training-related ECG changes (ie, increased R/S-wave voltages in 76%) and left ventricular (LV) morphologic remodeling (LV mass 199 ± 48 g vs 188 ± 56 g, P <.05). During follow-up, no athlete with J wave experienced cardiac event or ventricular tachyarrhythmias, or developed structural CV disease.ConclusionIn athletes, early repolarization pattern usually is associated with other ECG changes, such as increased QRS voltages and ST-segment elevation, as well as LV remodeling, suggesting that it likely represents another benign expression of the physiologic athlete's heart. J wave (early repolarization) is common in highly trained athletes and does not convey risk for adverse cardiac events, including sudden death or tachyarrhythmias.Copyright © 2014 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…