Sudden Cardiac Death in Athletes

Unfortunately sometimes in sport you hear of the healthy and active athlete collapsing while competing in sport and dieing. This is sudden cardiac death and it is something that at times can be undetectable. Last spring Dr. Rowland came to our school and offered a lecture on sudden cardiac death. He lectured about what causes sudden cardiac death, if it can be preventable and talked about appropriate screening methods in detecting heart conditions in athletes.

Dr. Rowland discussed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and coronary artery anomalies as two leading causes of death in an athlete. With these two types of conditions death usually occurs instantly. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is when the heart is enlarged, but structurally normal. When the heart muscle becomes extremely thick it causes an abnormal heart rhythm. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death. Coronary artery anomalies occur at birth and the heart has a structural abnormality. The coronary artery is underdeveloped. No family history or a physical exam can detect this type of abnormality. (All information taken from Dr. Rowland's PowerPoint)

These two types of sudden cardiac death are hard to detect and are very rare to occur. Having to screen all athletes with echo cardiograms and genetic screening would take up so much time and is very expensive. This makes sudden cardiac death hard to prevent. Instead trying to prevent sudden cardiac death, lives may be saved with the use of automatic defibrillators aka AEDs. As an athletic training student sudden cardiac death is a reality and can happen at anytime. Having an up to date AED and knowing proper CPR skills could help save a life. Sudden cardiac death is a very harsh reality that could happen to a healthy person at any time. It is hard to prevent, but it is the risk comes along with being an athlete and competing in sport.