These athletes will have various screening procedures before they’re deemed fit to play. A family history will be taken to check and see if there’s any evidence of heart disease or other issues which can cause problems to those who exercise strenuously, in an athlete’s genetics. An EKG will be taken to scan parts of the body for any signs of damage or the danger signs of impending damage. Lastly a full physical exam will be done by the athletes GP, looking for any signs of weakness and the chances of any issues developing in the future.
A group of researchers are suggesting that these tests aren’t enough and that the EKG might not be sensitive enough to find slight anomalies which could lead to sudden death when under strain. They’ve propositioned using an abbreviated echocardiogram to scan for such anomalies and this is relatively cheap and easy for most doctors to do with the equipment which will likely already be available to them.
With this new method of scanning the hope is that more cases of impending sudden death will be able to be caught, lessening the mortality rate of these otherwise healthy young men and women. The abbreviated echocardiogram could go into wide use in a couple of years, here’s to hoping it makes the difference!