MRI in sports health surveillance
Cardiac screening for proactive health surveillance is firmly on the radar for all sporting organisations. This is not only to identify undetected anomalies that could put life and health at risk, but also to monitor for the onset of coronary artery disease as players age. Indeed, from youth teams to the veteran professional footballer, anyone undertaking vigorous training and competitive matches is regulated to receive cardiology profiling every 2 years1.
The imaging tool that has traditionally been used is ultrasound echocardiography, looking at the structure of the heart at rest and during stress exercise. Now, and increasingly, the structure and functionality of the heart is examined via the latest generation of MRI.
For example, new developments have accelerated the examination time for cardiac MRI, with fewer patient breath holds needed to deliver much more detailed, richer image outputs that give another level of screening and profiling of the more subtle presentations of cardiac anatomy.
MRI is also an excellent choice of tool for the diagnosing and monitoring of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), the result of brain trauma from repetitive blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussion, which in football may have come from player contact or heading the ball. It is a hot topic in all contact sports such as boxing, rugby and martial arts and follows research at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), using MRI as the option to explore CTE without any dose implications to patients2.