Screening athletes for undetected heart problems: What parents need to know now

Dr. Gian Corrado, a physician in Boston Children’s Hospital Sports Medicine, was an undergraduate playing pick-up basketball when one of his teammates died suddenly on the court. Unfortunately, the young player’s death is not an isolated tragedy. Every three days, a young athlete somewhere in the U.S. collapses and dies due to an undetected heart problem. “It’s uncommon,” Corrado says, “but it’s not SO uncommon that it may not touch you. It happens, and we have no effective, efficient way to screen for it.” The National College Athletic Association’s chief medical officer has suggested it may be useful to routinely perform electrocardiograms (EKGs) and possibly other cardiac tests on some collegiate level athletes. A New York Times opinion piece about the issue early in 2016 drew a lot of attention. But there’s widespread debate in medical circles about such broad usage of EKGs. Why is this so controversial? If it’s such a valuable test, why don’t athletes get routine EKGs? EKG screening for undetected heart problems in athletes: The cardiologist A large part of the debate about EKGs comes down to accuracy. EKGs yield a notoriously high number of false positives. An EKG may appear to show an abnormal pattern that is not actually problematic. As many as one in three young, athletic individuals may have such EKG patterns, but most do not actually have a heart problem. “Proponents feel strongly that the opportunity to identify young people who...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Ask the Expert Health & Wellness In the News Parenting Teen Health Division of Sports Medicine Dr. Gianmichel Corrado Dr. John Triedman echocardiogram EKG screening Heart Center Source Type: news