Dear Colleagues,

Cardiovascular imaging is a key part in evaluating the athlete's physiological adaptation to exercise. Furthermore, imaging allows to rule out and to characterize suspected congenital or acquired cardiovascular diseases. Basic and advanced cardiovascular imaging can resolve doubts in cases of cases falling in the grey zone between athlete’s heart and pathological conditions. Specifically, after an initial assessment with echocardiography, advanced imaging such as three-dimensional echocardiography, speckle tracking imaging, cardiac computed tomography, cardiac magnetic resonance, and nuclear techniques can improve the diagnostic accuracy and the risk stratification of cardiovascular diseases in athletes. The persistent advances and updates lead to a continuous evolution in the evaluation of the athlete's heart.

This Special Issue is aimed at interesting colleagues in the fields of sports cardiology and cardiovascular imaging. Original articles and high-quality reviews are welcome. Specifically, we particularly appreciate the contributions on the following topics:

- Multimodality imaging assessment in the differential diagnosis between athlete’s heart and cardiovascular diseases
- Advanced imaging assessment in the athlete’s heart
- Cardiovascular imaging approach in the female athlete’s heart
- The novelties in cardiovascular imaging in the evaluating of the athlete with cardiovascular diseases
- Cardiac multimodality imaging in risk assessment for arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in athletes 
- The role of cardiovascular imaging in exercise prescription 
- Risk stratification with cardiovascular imaging in young athletes with cardiovascular diseases
- Evaluation of the paediatric athlete's heart
- Multimodality imaging in congenital heart diseases, in cardiomyopathies, in heart valve diseases
- Role of imaging in the evaluation of athletes after COVID-19 infection

Assoc. Prof. Elena Cavarretta, Dr. Annachiara Pingitore and Dr. Francesco Perone

Guest Editors