The purpose of the present study was to assess the size of great and medium caliber
arterial and venous vessels (conductance vessels) in athletes of different sports
and sedentary people. Vessel size was measured by two-dimensional echocardiography
in 15 professional cyclists, 15 highly-trained long-distance runners, 15 professional
volleyball players, 10 wheelchair basketball players, 11 wheelchair distance runners
and 20 sedentary controls. The following vessels were imaged and measured: aortic
arch, left carotid and left subclavian artery, right pulmonary artery, abdominal aorta
and mesenteric artery, superior and inferior vena cava. Vessel size was considered
in absolute value and normalized for body surface area (BSA). Among the able-bodied
athletes, both cyclists and long-distance runners showed a generalized increase in
vessels size in respect to controls, either absolute or normalized for BSA. The increase
was highly significant for normalized inferior vena cava: cyclists, mean 15.1 mm,
95 % confidence intervals 14.2 to 15.8 mm; long-distance runners, 15.8mm, 15.3 to
16.4; controls, 10.5mm, 9.8 to 11.3. Volleyball players also showed larger vessels
than controls, but this feature was clearly related to their greater body size because
statistical differences were attenuated or abolished by normalization for BSA. Wheelchair
athletes exhibited significantly larger upper-body vessels but significantly smaller
lower-body vessels than controls when normalized for BSA. In addition, wheelchair
distance runners, who trained more intensively, had larger abdominal aorta and inferior
vena cava than wheelchair basket players. Long-term endurance training leads to a
generalized increase in arterial and venous conductance vessels size. The pattern
observed in wheelchair athletes indicates that this process needs the integrity of
vasomotor control and most likely the presence of the other training-induced changes
in skeletal muscle vascularization.
Key words
Athletes - wheelchair athletes - conductance vessels - two-dimensional echocardiography