Phidipiddes cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Repetitive, sustained elevations of cardiac output for several hours, in predisposed individuals, causes recurrent dilation of cardiac chambers and stimulates resident macrophages, pericytes, and fibroblasts,resulting in the deposition of collagen causing patchy fibrosis. The fibrotic areas, in turn, become the substrate for re-entrant ventricular tachycardia and degeneration to ventricular fibrillation. In the absence of areadily identifiable cardiac abnormality (eg, acute myocardial infarction, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), Phidippides cardiomyopathy is a likely cause of sudden death in athletes, such as marathon runners