An acute cardiovascular event in an endurance-trained athlete

In athletes, symptoms and electrocardiographic patterns may mimic an acute coronary event. In addition, endurance athletes show significantly elevated heart-specific serum CK-MB enzyme activity in the first week after athletic competition. Also, cellular control of the CK-MB enzyme is consistently elevated in skeletal muscles of trained endurance athletes. Thus, all three criteria used in diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction may be found in the athlete's heart. Awareness of these potential findings in athletes as "heart patients" and curtail unnecessary hospitalizations.