screening for sudden cardiac arrest

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By Andrea King Collier

It happens every year. An athlete who appears to be completely healthy dies suddenly on the playing field or basketball court, often from sudden cardiac arrest. When it happens to young athletes, it sends shock waves through parents and athletics programs around the country.
           
The first thing parents need to know is that sudden cardiac arrest is not a heart attack, says Sharlene Day, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Michigan’s Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Clinic. In cardiac arrest, the heart abruptly stops working because its electrical system has malfunctioned. A heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart is interrupted.
           
“The most common cause of sudden cardiac arrest is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a thickened, stiffened heart muscle that interrupts the flow of blood out of the heart to the body,” Day says. It can cause young athletes to feel breathless or experience chest pain during or immediately after physical exertion.