hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

A longtime high school sports administrator argues that the Illinois high school concussion class action lawsuit raises many questions that shouldn't be decided by the first lawyer to get to the courthouse but only after careful consideration by state legislatures and high school sports administrators of all the issues arising from concussions and other aspects of athlete safety.

The death of young, seemingly healthy, athletes from undetected heart problems often generates considerable media attention and re-ignites the debate over the optimal approach to screening young competitive athletes for heart problems to minimize death from sudden cardiac arrest.

About 50 young athletes go into sudden cardiac arrest each year and die from a rare congenital heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM ).   While some parent groups advocate for routine electrocardiogram (ECG) screening for youth athletes, sports administrator Donald Collins says attacking the HCM problem through education, by forming alliances between schools, leagues and sports governing bodies with medical organizations and by the taking of detailed family history during a young athlete's pre-participation physical evaluation is a cost-effective approach to early detection.