Absence of left ventricular hypertrophy in elite college basketball players

Left ventricular dimensions of 11 successful male college basketball players engaged in pre-season conditioning (mean age, 20.3 years) and 13 tall healthy male controls (mean age, 21.6 years) were studied by echocardiography. Left ventricular internal dimension (LVIDd, mm), posterior wall thickness (PWT, mm), septal thickness (ST, mm), and calculated left ventricular mass (LV mass, g) in the athletes were within or only slightly in excess of echocardiographic normal limits and mean values were not significantly different from the control group. LVIDd (mm/m2 body surface area) was significantly lower in the athletes. However, five guard-type players displayed significantly greater mean values for PWT and LV mass compared to six taller forwards/centers with linear body builds. It was concluded that left ventricular hypertrophy is not a common characteristic of college basketball players. It was hypothesized that cardiac dimensions of young men may vary independently of gross body size in relation to somatotype or other anthropometric variables.