Lithuanian Atletes' Aortic Diameter

Recent developments in football have seen the sudden death of young football player due to aortic rupture hence reinforcing the controversy of football as a field with substantial risk for sudden cardiac arrest and death. Moreover, there is an argument that aortic dilatation and the subsequent event of thoracic aortic aneurysm may be an occupational disease due to the nature of some vocations (i.e., military and security personnel, blue collar workers, weightlifters, athletes etc.). Of particular importance, there is some evidence that elite athletic training is associated with small but significantly larger aortic root diameter. The purpose of this study was to investigate aortic root adaptation to physical workload and to determine if aortic root's and left ventricle sizes are contingent upon the physical workload