Introduction .– The aim of this study is to assess the morphological and hemodynamic cardiovascular changes of 24 high-level football players, using Doppler-echocardiography, and compare them to a similar control group.

Methods and results .– Twenty-four elite football players were matched to 24 normal subjects according to age, sex, and body surface. All participants had a clinical examination, resting ECG, Doppler-echocardiography and a measurement of maximal oxygen uptake (VO ₂ max). The echocardiographic variables were compared between two groups by the Student’s t -test and other statistical tests, using the SPSS 12 for Windows software. Compared to the control group, the wall thickness (10.49 + 1.04 vs). 7.5 + 2.04 mm, P < 0.05), the LV end-diastolic diameter (57.1 + 3.70 vs. 41.2 + 3.65 mm, P < 0.01) and left atrium surface (20.16 + 2.03 vs. 16.16 + 1.83 cm2, P < 0.01) were significantly more important in football players. The LV and RV ejection fractions were similar in both groups. The RV long-axis diastolic diameter (8 + 0.5 vs. 6.5 + 1.1 mm, P < 0.01) and S-wave using DTI (0.17 + 0.02 vs. 0.14 + 0.02, P < 0.05) were more important among football players.

Discussion .– The hemodynamic and morphological changes result from an acquired cardiac adaptation in athletes with important endurance and resistive efforts. The majority of players presented an intermediate-type of remodeling, but the more offensive ones had an endurance-type heart, whereas the defense players had a resistance-type aspect.

Conclusion .– This study on the cardiac remodeling in high-level athletes permits to have a distinctive approach between physiological and pathological remodeling. This remodeling varies according to the player’s post and exercise capacities. In a football player, a correlation between physical level and physical capacity is plausible.