GENESIS AND PREVENTION OF HEART ENLARGEMENT

Enlarged heart or hypertrophied heart – cardiomegaly is the most significant issue of contemporary medicine, particularly, sports cardiology, as 75-80% of sudden death cases among athletes is caused by heart problems. There are two forms of enlarged heart: physiological and pathological ones. In the former case, the heart maintains the ability to meet the increased demand of the organism in the conditions of long and extensive loads. In the latter case – the heart is pathologically changed, with impaired performance capability. There are distinguished eccentric L and concentric D hypertrophies. In the former case, the elongation of the muscular fibers takes place resulting in increased heart volume. In the latter case, the muscle fibers become thicker, making the heart wall thick as well. In case of severe physical load and exercising, both types of hypertrophy are present. To maintain good health of the athletes and, what is the most important, to avoid sudden death, monitoring of their health status, proper nutrition, weight control, and due regard of genetic predisposition is required. In the case of diagnosing, distinguishing between the norm and pathology is of great significance, to minimize the risk of sudden death on one hand and to avoid hyper-diagnostics – on the other, not to exclude the athlete from active sports life.The Conference is organized by the Faculty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of the Georgian State Teaching University of Physical Education and Sports