Prevent sudden death in student athletes with EKG and echocardiogram, study says

What would we find if we screened, say, 134 top high school athletes for life-threatening cardiac abnormalities?

Doctors from Johns Hopkins University did just that--at track and field championships in 2008 in Maryland--and presented their findings in November at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Fla. They took a medical history, weight and blood pressure measurements and listened for unusual heartbeats or murmurs. They also conducted cardiac ultrasounds, echocardiograms, to measure the heart size and pumping function, and electrocardiograms, EKGs, to assess the heart’s electrical rhythms.

None of the teens were found to have life-threatening heart defects, but abnormal findings were discovered in 36 athletes, including 29 with elevated blood pressure in need of future monitoring.

The point the study makes is about testing. Twenty-two of the abnormalities were found by EKG alone, nine by ECHO alone, and five were picked up on both tests. So researchers argue for more comprehensive screening of athletes.

“If you are going to screen, it has to be comprehensive,” Dr. Theodore Abraham said in The JHU Gazette. “An EKG does show you a lot, but it doesn’t tell you the whole story."

Read the rest of the story.

Read more from the Scientific sessions.