Newswatch: May 2006

Preliminary heart research findings involve Olympic speed-skating teams

Although scientists would probably love to get their hands on such superheros as the likes of Superman to get a handle on what makes him tick, the barrier of fiction is sadly insurmountable. Thus, they're going for the next best thing: Olympic athletes, who are able to leap to stunning heights and reach awe-inspiring speeds. In an effort to improve diagnosis and treatment, researchers have been studying how Olympians' hearts work.

GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wis) and the Olympic committees from the United States, Italy, and China collaborated on a new clinical study to examine athletes' hearts to gain new insights into techniques for diagnosing and treating heart disease. The research is aimed at improving athletic performance and reducing cardiac risk.

"This study was the first of its kind to investigate the cardiovascular effects of rest and activity of both short- and long-range athletes who follow fundamentally different training regimens," said research leader Michael H. Picard, MD, of Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). "Past research has shown that abnormalities can develop in endurance athletes' hearts after exercise, like stiffening of the heart, and are similar to symptoms found in the earliest phases of coronary heart disease. We hope that the findings of this study will enable new methods for more precise diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and heart failure in everyone from Olympic athletes to the patients we see every day."

GE Healthcare provided advanced miniaturized ultrasound systems for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. These systems—the Vivid-i for cardiovascular applications and the Logiq Book for musculoskeletal applications primarily—provided sports medicine professionals with a means to track overall cardiac and musculoskeletal fitness of athletes over their training regimen. The systems also ensured advanced healthcare to the athletes at the Games.

"The ability to assess athlete cardiac fitness immediately through graphic, moving ultrasound images, and to learn more about heart capacity through the cardiovascular research, was a huge advantage to US Olympians and hopefuls in their training and competition," said Ed Ryan, director of sports medicine for the US Olympic Committee.

Added Apolo Anton Ohno, US Olympic team short-track speed skater and current world champion, "As athletes, we are constantly trying to learn more about our bodies, so we can push ourselves to get the most out of training and competition. Being part of a sports science program like this one, which is on the cutting edge of heart research, was an amazing opportunity."

Many professional sports organizations and Olympic teams undergo regular cardiovascular screenings to understand each person's cardiovascular health and assess risk factors for sudden cardiac death. GE Healthcare supplies portable cardiovascular technology for the sports medicine industry around the world, including professional soccer teams in Spain, Norway, and Germany as well as public sporting events such as the Boston Marathon. This makes cardiovascular health screening quick, easy, and available anywhere where athletes may be and provides valuable information about the athlete's overall health prior to any physical-exertion activity.

Initial findings, which were announced during the Games in Torino, Italy, were presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual scientific sessions in March. The cardiovascular study initiative of GE Healthcare is part of the company's top sponsorship of the Olympic Games, which will continue through 2012.