Submitted by Dr T on March 23, 2012 – 12:47pm
Question:
Hi,As you may or may not know a footballer in the UK collapsed on the pitch and is lucky to be alive.This of course worries me drastically been a 23 year old lad who does regularly participate in sport it also brings back memories of when i was getting regular palpitations a few years back but didn’t do anything about it and haven’t really suffered with them for sometime.Is it worth getting an echo and ecg as after reading certain sites it states that palpitations are linked to defects?and can they also relate to lifestyle as it can be said im not the healthiest drinker or eater in the world.
Hi Shaun,
I do know about it, including the statement from a cardiologist afterwards that nothing abnormal was found. Until then I thought he had suffered a lethal arrhythmia and a Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) episode, but that would have been excluded by the testing that must have been done.
As a result I don’t know what happened, nor can I comment on whether you are at risk, but read this and see if it fits your situation. Just so you know, the heart disease that predispose to SCD in young athletes is very rare (from 0.2 to 0.7%):
Meanwhile it shows how important it is that people know about CPR!
Hope this helps,
Dr T