Basketball and volleyball attract individuals with a characteristic biophysical profile, mimicking features of Marfan syndrome. Consequently, identification of these abnormalities can be lifesaving.
Purpose: To determine how physical examination, echocardiography, and genetic screening can identify elite volleyball players with a previously undiagnosed aortopathy.
Methods: We have performed cardiac screening on 90 US Volleyball National Team members and identified four individuals with dilated sinuses of Valsalva. This case series reports on three individuals who underwent a comprehensive genetics evaluation, including gene sequencing.
Results: Cardiac screening combined with genetic testing can identify previously undiagnosed tall athletes with an aortopathy, in the absence of noncardiac findings of a connective tissue disorder. Subject 1 had a revised Ghent systems (RGS) score of 2 and a normal aortopathy gene panel. Subject 2 had a RGS score of 1 and genetic testing revealed a de novo disease causing mutation in the gene encoding fibrillin-1 (FBN1). Subject 3 had an RGS score of 4.0 and had a normal aortopathy gene panel.
Conclusions: Despite variable clinical features of Marfan syndrome, dilated sinuses of Valsalva were found in 4.9% of the athletes. A disease-causing mutation in the FBN1 gene was identified in subject 2, who had the lowest RGS but the largest aortic root measurement. Subjects 1 and 3, with the highest RGS, had a normal aortopathy gene panel. Our findings provide further evidence suggesting that a cardiac evaluation, including a screening echocardiogram, should be performed on all elite tall adult athletes independent of other physical findings. Genetic testing should be considered for athletes with dilated sinuses of Valsalva (male, >4.2 cm; female, >3.4 cm), regardless of other extracardiac findings.