Sports Cardiologist Explores the Outer Limits

The Summer 2016 issue of Cardiology magazine highlights the work of Benjamin D. Levine, MD, FACC, and his team at the Institute of Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Texas Health Resources in Dallas, as they investigate how sustained high-intensity exercise affects cardiovascular health. “The images on the screen at NASA’s Johnson Space Center began as sounds, transmitted via sonar from an echocardiogram machine measuring the heartbeat of Ben Lecomte, who is currently swimming 5,500 miles across the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo to San Francisco, with the goal of becoming the first person to freestyle swim across the Pacific. The images, recorded by Lecomte and guided by a NASA sonographer, will tell [Levine and his team] how Lecomte’s heart performs while he swims for eight hours every day for about five months.” Learn more about Levine’s work. Read the full Summer issue on ACC.org/Cardiology.