Myocardial Function in Older Male Amateur Marathon Runners: Assessment by Tissue Doppler Echocardiography, Speckle Tracking, and Cardiac Biomarkers

Left ventricular systolic function is preserved after a marathon in older runners. There are right ventricular functional changes as a sign of prolonged myocardial work load. There is no significant difference between older and young runners regarding transient diastolic dysfunction or biomarker release. The latter is not associated with echocardiography parameters of myocardial dysfunction.