Athlete Heart Screenings Could Prevent Unexpected Deaths

Twenty years ago, Hank Gathers was one of the best college basketball players in the nation. He was dominating his senior year and was all set to go on to be a multi-million dollar NBA player. And twenty years ago, on March 4, 1990, it all ended in an instant.

It was the West Coast Conference quarterfinals. Gathers’ team Loyola Marymount against Portland. Gathers went up for a dunk, but when he came down, he came all the way down. The star basketball player collapsed to the floor, and an hour later, he was pronounced dead, killed by the heart muscle disorder, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

His death was a shock, but sudden deaths of athletes in not unusual. Almost 100 young athletes die unexpectedly every year. In late January, Chicago Bears defensive end Gaines Adams died of cardiac arrest because of an enlarged heart that nobody knew about. Now, researchers are saying that some of these deaths could be prevented by more effective screening for heart problems. The screening they are recommending would cost less than $100 per athlete, and it could potentially save many lives.

Many sports are already dangerous and strenuous as it is. Athletes, particularly pro athletes, put their bodies through many challenges through the games that they play. Some say football is too dangerous on its own. Imagine going through the strains of an athlete with an unknown heart problem. While athletes already go through a physical exam and medical history before participating in college sports, researchers have found that an electrocardiogram, or ECG, should also be required to measure the heart’s electrical activity. Two independent studies showed that with the addition of an ECG, doctors could identify twice as many at risk athletes than with a physical exam and medical history alone. The ECG can identify a potential problem that can be investigated with an ultrasound to see if the athlete has a heart condition that could be life threatening with strenuous physical activity.

So many of the athletes who die suddenly have preexisting conditions that caused their death the choosing to use an ECG scan seems like an easy decision. Some are concerned about the cost, or that there is a lack of resources, but if this simple screening could potentially save lives, it should be mandatory, for all sports. Football and basketball are probably the most obviously strenuous spots, but unexpected deaths are found even in sports as simple as track.

What do you think? Should ECG screening be mandatory for all young athletes? What else should be done to prevent unexpected deaths?