Peak V02 and individuals with dilated left ventricles.

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  The evaluation of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in distinguishing left ventricular remodelling due to exercise from dilated cardiomyopathy.

• IRAS ID

  146683

• Contact name

  Lynne M Millar

• Contact email

  lymillar@sgul.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  St. George's University of London

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Athletic training can lead to several changes in the commonly referred to as the ‘athlete’s heart' (AH). Some of these changes can overlap with abnormal heart conditions which can cause sudden death. It is extremely important to distinguish between these to prevent the unnecessary death of athletes but also to stop them from being wrongfully disqualified from sport. Some athletes get dilatation of their heart chambers in response to regular exercise. Occasionally their hearts can appear not to be functioning normally at rest despite it pumping normally during exercise. These changes are also seen in a condition called ‘dilated cardiomyopathy' (DCM) which can cause the heart muscle to weaken and the heart to pump inefficiently.

  In this study we would like to see whether a cardiopulmonary exercise test is a useful test to distinguishAH from DCM in patients with left ventricular dilatation and low normal/mildly impaired heart function. A secondary aim would be to assess the usefulness of exercise echocardiography in distinguishing AH from DCM. In order to understand this in more detail we would compare look at many of the conventional tests which are used to assess patients with DCM.
  These include:
  -heart tracing (ECG)
  -a heart monitor for 24 hours.
  -blood sample for a test called NT-proBNP
  -echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart)
  -MRI scan of the heart will be performed looking in detail at the heart structure

  Also if the patient was willing we would store any remaining blood for use in potential future research. This may include DNA analysis.

• REC name

  London - Chelsea Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  15/LO/0869

• Date of REC Opinion

  18 May 2015

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion