During the AGARD conference 'Medical Selection and Physiologic Training of Future Fighter Aircrew' in Apr. 1985, a paper was presented on echocardiography in Mirage 2000 pilots. In this study, 32 Mirage 2000 pilots and 34 transport pilots underwent echocardiography in order to evaluate the possibility of cardiac changes occurring because of high performance flying. The authors found a statistically significant increase in left atrial size and left ventricular septal thickness. They also felt that there was a very significant difference in right ventricular dimensions. The mean right ventricular size for the transport pilots and the Mirage pilots was 13.265 mm and 16.750 mm, respectively. They felt that 8 of the Mirage 2000 pilots had dilated right ventriclcs whereas only one of the transport pilots had an enlarged right ventricle. Although the cause of this apparent difference could not be determined by the study, the presence of right ventricular dilatation in high performance pilots raised a significant occupational concern among the NATO countries. Although this may simply be an artifact of the small sample size or a result of the inherent difficulty in obtaining right ventricular dimensions, the possibility that this represented a true occupational hazard was seriously considered. In order to determine the significance of this finding, a larger study was undertaken. The intention of this study is to perform a large cross-sectional study comparing the echocardiographic findings obtained on pilots flying high sustained G aircraft with non high sustained G pilots (tanker, bomber, transport, helicopter pilots, etc.).


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    Title :

    Echocardiographic Findings in Trained Aircrew: The Effect of +Gz on Cardiac Structure (Working Group 18)


    Contributors:
    P. V. Celio (author)

    Publication date :

    1993


    Size :

    2 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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