Ricerc@Sapienza

The prevalence of valvular heart disease (VHD) rises with age, reaching 11.7% in individuals older than 75 years.1 In young individuals, VHD is usually related to the presence of a congenital valve abnormality, as bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) or mitral valve prolapse. This is also the case for athletes, where in the presence of these abnormalities few restrictions exist in eligibility

Despite their highbrow name, coronarvirus have proved eminently disruptive in recent years. Since the epidemic of severe respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) due to the SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MER S) due to the MER S-related coronavirus (MER S-CoV), several experts could expect the advent of additional epidemics due to coronaviruses. Yet, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus-associated disease 2019 (COVID -2019) due to the infection from SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV) has wreaked havoc worldwide (Figure 1).

Objective Current guidelines recommend precautionary disqualification from competitive sports in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We assessed the incidence of cardiovascular events in a cohort of patients with HCM engaged in long-term exercise programmes and competitive sport. Methods We reviewed data on 88 consecutive athletes diagnosed with HCM, from 1997 to 2017; 92 male, 98 Caucasian, median age 31 (IQR: 19-44) years. All participated in regular exercise programmes and competitive sport at study entry. We performed follow-up evaluation after 7±5 (1-21) years.

This joint position paper illustrates the role and the correct use of echocardiography, radionuclide imaging with 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging for the evaluation and management of patients with known or suspected cardiac sarcoidosis. This position paper will aid in standardizing imaging for cardiac sarcoidosis and may facilitate clinical trials and pooling of multi-centre data on cardiac sarcoidosis.