As millions of teenagers get ready to go back to school this month, Jim and Sheila Fisher are urging parents to be extra vigilant when setting up their children’s school or athletic physicals.
Two years ago, the Fishers’ son, Sean, died suddenly of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, an abnormal thickening of the heart’s walls.
Sometimes referred to as sudden death syndrome, the genetic condition often goes undiagnosed because most people who have it lead normal lives without signs or symptoms. For some patients, the first symptom literally is death.
Sean died during football practice, on his 13th birthday.
“We had no clue that he had this,” Sheila Fisher, who lives in Waldwick, N.J., said of his heart condition. “We do not carry the gene, nor does anyone in the family that we know of.”
She said she lives every day of her life with the question “What if?” swirling through her head.
“I know there’s absolutely nothing we could’ve done short of having him screened,” she said. “He was the picture of perfect health.”
Dr. Robert Tozzi, chief of pediatric cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey and Director of the Gregory M. Hirsch Center for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, said approximately one in 500 people carries the HCM gene, and the disease usually presents itself between the ages of 12 and 18.
“That’s why we screen that group, because the disease seems to come out aggressively in that time period,” Tozzi said. “So the child could be fine during their freshman year, but by their senior year the disease could establish itself. It’s a sneaky disease.”
The most accurate way to screen for the disease is by using an ultrasound and/or an electrocardiogram (ECG).
“In general, the bigger your heart is, the more irritable it is, the more likely it is to have an arrhythmia, and that pretty much holds across boundaries,” Tozzi said. “So the thickening of your heart puts you at increased risk of developing fatal arrhythmia.”
If caught early enough, HCM can be treated effectively with medication, an internal cardiac defibrillator or surgery to remove the excess tissue, allowing the patient a chance at a long and healthy life. But screening for HCM is not part of the standard physical exam given by most pediatricians and school medical offices in the United States. And one of the reasons may be cost.
But that’s something the Fishers are working hard to change. They started a foundation in memory of Sean, and along with the Gregory M. Hirsch Foundation, they raised enough money to pay for freshman screening at Waldwick High School — where Sean would have been in ninth grade last year.
Out of 100 students, 62 signed up for the screening, and two students found out they had the condition, Sheila said.
“What are those odds like?” she said. “We want to test the world if you want to know the truth. Sean was the picture of perfect health. The physicals they do on children are ridiculous.”
Tozzi and his staff at Hackensack performed the free screenings at Waldwick High School in April – something he hopes will serve as a model for other communities to follow suit.
“The answer to the problem of who gets screened and who doesn’t get screened, I think, has been answered now,” Tozzi said. “We can screen all our children, both with EKG and echocardiogram and reduce the chances of them dying suddenly by 70 percent — and this is our initiative — awareness, education and identification.”
Tozzi said a typical HCM screening is approximately $1,400, but he believes schools across the country can screen children for as little as $250 per person with the help of philanthropies, which is what it cost to screen the freshman at Waldwick.
Dr. Merle Myerson, a cardiologist at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, said athletic physicals are the best time for parents and students to screen for the disease.
Although HCM can kill at any time, exercise puts added stress on a heart with HCM, Myerson said.
“There are five million competitive athletes at the high school level,” said Myerson, who is also director of St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Pre-Exercise Heart Screening Program.
“One in 200,000 athletes will die suddenly and 30 to 40 percent of them have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,” Myerson said. “Even if you say that’s a low number – what if it’s your child?”
She urges parents to take an active interest in their students’ athletic program and to ask questions such as:
— Who is screening the athletes? Is it a licensed health care practitioner?
— What kinds of questions are the athletes being asked? (For example, has the athlete ever fainted? Has the athlete’s sibling ever fainted? Have you ever been told you have a heart murmur? Do you ever feel chest pain?)
“As it happens, there is no national high school mandated protocol,” Myerson said. “Each state high school federation has their own set of guidelines, despite many medical associations issuing guidelines. There is a tremendous amount of variability in each state’s protocol of screening.”
Myerson pointed to Italy, where it is mandatory that athletes get an echocardiogram before they are allowed on the athletic field.
“This is where many abnormalities are picked up,” she said. “Now there’s a big controversy in this country because (this kind of testing) costs more, and you could have a false-positive, but I think the ECG is non-invasive and relatively inexpensive – so it’s worth it in my opinion.”
FoxNews.com’s Jessica Mulvihill contributed to this article.
Our deepest condolences go to the Hopkins’ friends and family.
from click2Houston.com
Student Collapses On Basketball Court, Dies
Tristen Hopkins Collapsed At Lamar University
POSTED: Wednesday, June 16, 2010
UPDATED: 11:14 am CDT June 16, 2010
BEAUMONT, Texas — A Lamar University student from Houston died after collapsing on campus, KPRC Local 2 reported.
University officials said Tristen Hopkins, 22, collapsed while playing basketball at the Shiela Umphrey Recreational Sports Center at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.Hopkins was taken to Memorial Hermann Baptist Hospital in Beaumont, where he died.”Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family,” said Barry Johnson, vice president for student affairs. “Whenever we lose a student the whole campus community is affected. He was a fine young man.”Hopkins was a sophomore chemical engineering student.The cause of his death is under investigation.
Copyright 2010 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I still remember the 26th of June 2003. It was the summer holidays after my first year of university. The sun shone brightly, which isn’t necessarily a given during English summers, the girls were out sunning themselves, showing off just enough to pique the imagination, and the mood was carefree. My friends and I spent the time idly wiling away the hours; kickabouts in the park, crossbar challenges (3 points for hitting the bar, 1 point for either post), barbeques, beers and outdoor parties long into the night. It was Summertime by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Catch the Sun by Doves. It was a wonderfully easy-going, untroubled time.
I remember well the day of the Confederations Cup semi finals. It was a relatively new tournament then, only it’s fourth instalment in the modern format, and not too many people cared about it. Nevertheless the desire, no, need to watch football still burnt within me, and I had been following the tournament eagerly.
Cameroon vs Colombia and France vs Turkey were two games I really wanted to see. France were the holders, spurred on by the likes of Lilian Thuram and Thierry Henry. Cameroon were a mighty force, resilient and tough to beat. Turkey had just eliminated world champions Brazil.
Cameroon were playing Colombia in the first semi final, but just as I settled down to watch, some friends came over and somehow managed to drag me away. By the time I got back, France were playing Turkey at the Stade de France. And something wasn’t right.
Within a few minutes Henry gave France the lead. The commentator (I think it was on Eurosport) announced the goal with a tone completely devoid of enthusiasm. Hardly anyone in the crowd cheered. The French players gathered together for a hug but it seemed joyless.
Henry pointed towards the sky, which I wanted to interpret as typical Henry posturing, but it didn’t sit right. The commentator then linked the gesture with ‘the events of today’ and alarm bells rang.
At a break in play I checked Sky Sports News and watched on in a state of horror. The words scrolled across the screen in black font on the big yellow alert bar that is the channel’s custom for breaking news. ‘Marc-Viven Foe collapses and dies during Cameroon’s 1-0 win against Colombia.’ The excruciatingly slow way in which the words scrolled across the screen only accentuated the tension and sense of tragedy, each word burning into my spirit, a hammer blow to my fading desire not to believe it.
“Un lion ne meurt jamais” — a lion never dies
Marc-Vivien Foe passed away whilst gaining his 64th cap for Cameroon. The Indomitable Lions were 1-0 up against Colombia and down to ten men when, in the 72nd minute, Foe collapsed in the centre circle. Medics spent 45 minutes trying to resuscitate him but shortly after arriving at hospital, he died. An autopsy revealed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and concluded that his death was heart related.
Foe’s death left Cameroon, Africa and the entire football world in shock. A roving, powerful central midfielder, Foe won two African Cup of Nations and two French league championships, with Lens in 1998 and Lyon in 2002. He played at two World Cup finals and scored 8 goals in 64 appearances for his country.
The extent of the respect Marc-Vivien Foe commanded and his likeable nature was summed up by the reaction to his passing. In Yaounde, Foe’s place of birth, mourners poured onto the streets within minutes of learning the sad news and all major TV and radio stations halted regular coverage to turn their attentions to one of Yaounde’s most famous sons. The day before the funeral over 30,000 people flocked to Ahmadou Ahidjo stadium, near his family home, to honour Foe’s remains.
He was given a state funeral, attended by Cameroon State President Paul Biya as well as other high ranking officials. Rigobert Song and FIFA president Sepp Blatter were among those to read eulogies. Manchester City retired the number 23 shirt; Foe was the last City player ever to score at the club’s now defunct Maine Road stadium. Racing Club de Lens renamed an avenue near their Felix Bollaert Stadium after him. Foe was also posthumously awarded Cameroon’s Commander of the National Order of Valour.
FIFA tribute
At the Confederations Cup final between Brazil and USA tomorrow FIFA will stage a memorial in memory of Marc-Vivien Foe before the match. It is a wonderful gesture to a great man who will never be forgotten.
Marc-Vivien Foe was not only a warrior-like midfielder but a figure loved by many in the game. His calm, reserved nature was at complete odds with his stature and on-pitch bustling style. When pressed once by the BBC about his seemingly shy persona he answered, “my strength is my calmness. I believe you are at your best when you are discrete and calm”.
Manchester City deputy chairman John Wardle offered a glowing testament to Foe’s personality:
“You could not meet a better professional. He never gave anyone an ounce of trouble. Typically he was going to spend his summer teaching youngsters the game back in France. We gave him a f
ew days off at the end of the season so he could go back for the birth of his daughter and when he returned he just couldn’t stop smiling. He will go down in history as the last City player to score at Maine Road. We are devastated.”
The legacy of Marc-Vivien Foe goes on. Blatter spoke recently about Foe’s lasting impact on health matters in football:
“One of the legacies of Marc-Vivien Foe’s unfortunate death is that Fifa is providing medical care and aid where we possibly can. Foe’s death has brought a new approach to the prevention of health, disease and cardiologic problems in football organisation. More and more, a special cardiologic check-up has to be done before tournaments – just as Fifa has done with the eight teams at this year’s U-20 World Cup in Egypt. Another result was that Fifa has now recommended that a defibrillating machine should be present in all stadiums where football is played.”
Personally I will never forget that sad summer’s day in 2003. The harrowing, heartbreaking image of Foe dying was splashed insensitively all over the tabloids, eyes rolling back into his head as medics and players screamed frantically for help. It is an image that will haunt the periphery of my mind for a long, long time. Even now, my heart instinctively skips a beat whenever that yellow breaking news banner appears on Sky.
Nevertheless, in a country and indeed continent that largely looks at death as a passing into the afterlife, a heightened form of existence as we know it (Foe himself was deeply religious), it is strangely comforting to see how Marc-Vivien Foe is so celebrated in Cameroon, rather than mourned. There he has war hero status, a man who gave his life defending his country. Patrice Etoundi Mballa wrote in the Cameroon Tribune at the time:
“We should not forget that Marc-Vivien Foe’s was a tremendous destiny. To die on the football field, having minutes earlier sung the national anthem of his nation and guided his teammates into the final of a major competition…few are granted the chance to end their earthly voyage in such beauty. Few have deserved such reverance and admiration from their homeland.”
With untimely death at just 28, the story of Marc-Vivien Foe is one that ends in tragedy. But for the people of Cameroon, his was the ultimate sacrifice, a Pheidippidean tale of bravery and courage that elevated this shy, humble man from the most modest of backgrounds to the type of lavish, extravagant send-off usually reserved for presidents and Kings. As Peter Mabu Shey puts it:
“It is an honour indeed to die in a battle which has been won by your country. The good deeds done on the stage live for ever, even after the curtain falls.”
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail Published on Friday, May. 28, 2010 9:29PM EDT Last updated on Monday, May. 31, 2010 2:59PM EDT
As hockey fans gear up for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday, they also got their first peek at the National Hockey League’s future stars: Dozens of strong, sculpted young men representing the top prospects for the 2010 entry draft were paraded in front of the media on Friday, where they proved their physical prowess in a series of fitness tests in front of a sea of flashing cameras.
What fans didn’t get to see, however, was another series of tests the athletes were forced to undergo in a subterranean, makeshift medical facility where affable doctors in running shoes consulted charts and screens, seeking medical flaws that could instantly extinguish any hopes of a professional career on the ice.
The lengthy physical exams in the basement of an airport hotel – access to which was granted exclusively to The Globe and Mail – are designed to seek out “significant findings” such as persistent injuries, or a history of concussions. They are also designed to hunt down that rare clinical catch: an occult heart problem that could result in a sudden cardiac death. It’s an important exam to pass – not just for the athletes, but for the teams willing to invest tens of millions of dollars in the next Sidney Crosby, in the hopes of winning the next Stanley Cup.
“They know before these people come to the camp who is the best hockey player,” said Norm Gledhill, lead exercise physiologist for the NHL Scouting Combine. “…What they don’t know is the fitness and medical aspect of those individuals.”
Erik Gudbranson, 18, stood at one of the three-dimensional ultrasound machines in the medical centre on Friday, and had his heart described as “perfect” by a cardiologist.
“I know I’m a pretty healthy kid and I feel good. I wasn’t really too worried about it going in,” said Mr. Gudbranson, who at 6 feet, 4 inches and weighing 200 pounds, plays defence for the Kingston Frontenacs. “It’s kind of cool…I’ve never seen [my heart] pumping.”
Ever since 490 BC, when professional messenger Phidippides collapsed and died after running more than 20 miles to Athens to announce victory at Marathon, sudden cardiac death has been the subject of fascination. Today, it is the reason of scrupulous medical investigation when it comes to professional sports – and for good reason.
David Carle, the Alaska-born younger brother of NHL defenceman Matt Carle, was a coveted NHL draft pick, until his dreams of a hockey career were smashed two years ago in the scouting combine. A heart problem was picked up and later testing confirmed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the same thickening of the heart muscle that had killed OHL Windsor Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud in 2008.
Scott Gledhill -no relation to Norm – an emergency room physician at Toronto General Hospital at the combine, said that as a result, four three-dimensional echocardiography ultrasound machines were recently brought in to provide a more definitive medical diagnosis on site.
“It is going to be quite rare if we catch something but it’s significant if we do,” Dr. Gledhill said.
Yesterday’s tests didn’t reveal any career-threatening diagnoses, (tests continue today), but doctors did find a case of patent ductus arteriosis in one athlete – a heart problem where abnormal blood flow occurs between two of the major arteries connected to the heart. The problem, said Dr. Gledhill, can be corrected.
Medical testing didn’t come into vogue until a decade or so ago, after experts began to realize the serious issues multiple concussions can raise. Heart problems and a history of repeated joint issues can red-flag a player for further investigation or knock them out of the game altogether.
Mr. Gudbranson, who has been playing hockey ever since he can remember – for 15 of his 18 years of life – was not overly concerned about any potential health problems. He said he experienced a minor sprain to the left knee some time ago that he reported to doctors.
“It’s a really important day,” Mr. Gudbranson said on Friday. “… For now, I’m having fun trying to soak it all in, it’s an honour to be here.”
The world famous Dr. Oz brings in a family who lost their daughter to cardiac arrest, explores their heartbreak, and asks an expert about how and why this is happening to our youth.
The segment wraps up after the first few minutes of the video. The feelings and emotion of this father who has lost his daughter are shown as well as how mass study on teenagers are not only necessary but should be mandatory. Also- a cardiologist from TX speaks to parents and brings up the staggering statistics of a study of teenagers’ heart health.
This is an article by Eben Harrell that appeared in Time Magazine. It is a balanced article that presents both sides of the heart screening issue. Take a read…
Sudden Cardiac Death: Should Young Athletes Be Screened?
By Eben Harrell
For most people, regular exercise is associated with cardiovascular health. But doctors have long noted a troubling tendency among the ultra-fit: an athlete has a greater chance than the average person of suddenly dropping dead. As physicians and sporting organizations learn more about the condition known as sudden cardiac death (SCD), their research has opened an emotive and evolving debate about what can be done to protect athletes — and how much money should be spent trying to prevent what is still a rare but devastating occurrence.
SCD — an abrupt and fatal loss of heart function — is estimated to kill anywhere from 1 in 15,000 to 1 in 50,000 athletes. According to the International Olympic Committee, that rate is about three times higher than in the normal population. The condition usually gains public attention only after the death of an élite sportsman, like when Reggie Lewis of the Boston Celtics collapsed and died during basketball practice in 1993. However, all participants in regular athletic training — from recreational joggers to high school soccer players — are at increased risk. Almost all cases of SCD occur in athletes with hereditary or congenital cardiovascular diseases like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart. In 80% of cases, these diseases are asymptomatic and death occurs with little or no warning, almost always during or shortly after sport. Screening programs can identify heart abnormalities, but physicians disagree on which programs should be used and on whom and how often.
In an article for the Sept. 7 edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine that was sponsored by the IOC, cardiologists from Britain and the Netherlands reviewed existing studies on SCD and came to the conclusion that all athletes under the age of 35 should be routinely tested for heart abnormalities using a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). That conclusion is in line with a document published by the IOC in March that encourages national Olympic bodies to test all athletes with an ECG before they enter into competition. Some professional sports leagues, such as the NFL in the U.S. and the Premier League in the U.K., already require their athletes to undergo ECG screenings.
But many sports cardiologists think that’s a bad idea. The American Heart Association (AHA), while agreeing with the need for a screening program, believes that universal ECG tests are not cost-effective and are also likely to result in unacceptably high rates of false-positive results. It recommends that athletes instead be screened through a health questionnaire and physical examination, with an ECG used only as a secondary investigation. “Our current position on screening young people before athletic competition calls for a thorough patient and family medical history and a physical exam as the first line of screening, and the advice of the individual’s health-care provider to decide on further testing,” Dr. Clyde Yancy, president of the AHA, told TIME in a prepared statement.
Dr. Sanjay Sharma disagrees. A cardiologist at King’s College Hospital in London and one of the authors of the British Journal of Sports Medicine’s study, Sharma believes that results from Italy — which instituted a nationwide ECG screening program for athletes in 1983 — provides enough evidence of the effectiveness of an ECG to override the AHA’s concerns. Analyzing data from 42,000 athletes in the northeastern Veneto region of the country from 1979 to 2004, Italian researchers found that ECG screening resulted in an almost 90% drop in sudden cardiac deaths. Incidence of SCD among the unscreened nonathletic population did not change significantly during that time.
Though simple to perform, each ECG test usually costs about $500, says Sharma. The test returns accurate results for 98% of people with structural heart defects like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, the Italian researchers found that 7% of tests returned a false-positive result, requiring athletes to undergo more expensive investigations — and deal with the anxiety of wondering whether there was something wrong with their hearts. What’s more, some cardiologists believe that physical examinations can be equally effective in uncovering heart defects in athletes. A non-ECG screening of high school and college athletes in the U.S. from 1983 to 1993 resulted in an annual death rate as low as in the Italian ECG screening program — although some cardiologists have disputed the methodology of the study that examined the U.S. screening program.
But Sharma says he became convinced of the need for ECG tests through his work as head of the screening program for British athletes, for which he screens players in soccer’s Premier League and Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association as well as amateur athletes on behalf of a British cardiac-risk charity. He hopes to publish the results of his work in the coming years. “It’s very difficult to justify cost-effectiveness of ECG screening without using an emotive argument,” he says. “We’ve screened 8,000 British athletes and have picked up a potentially fatal condition in 0.3% [of them]. For every 300 athletes we screen, we find one with a condition that could kill that individual. How can you put a price on a vibrant 16-year-old dying?”
CNN had a feature on the benefits of screening teens for HCM with a group out of Texas. This group is not associated with Heart Screens for Teens but it’s good to see others trying get the word out and prevent sudden cardiac death from happening in teenagers. Click here to watch the video from CNN.
This article by Dave Hooker was published on www.govolsxtra.com. You can read the original piece at this link.
Fuad Reveiz’ newest endeavor hits close to home.
The former Tennessee kicker who has built houses and hosted television shows doesn’t want any father to experience what he almost had to endure a little more than two years ago.
That’s when his son, UT linebacker Shane Reveiz, was diagnosed with a tumor in his heart. The open-heart surgery to remedy the ailment was stressful enough, but doctors told the Reveiz family it could have been much worse.
Had the problem not been detected, the tumor could have broken loose and killed the otherwise healthy athlete.
The tumor was detected by a heart screening that is becoming more common in colleges, but still rare in high school and younger children. That’s why Fuad Reveiz aligned himself with Heart Screens for Teens and has held $65 screenings for teenagers at Farragut High School and will do the same this week at Christian Academy of Knoxville.
“To know that there is something out there that can be prevented, it’s a shame not to get involved and get this done,” the longtime NFL kicker said Tuesday on The News Sentinel’s radio show, The Sports Page.
Shane Reveiz was one of three UT athletes diagnosed with a heart ailment in 2007. Former UT basketball player Duke Crews has an enlarged heart that is now controlled by medication.
The ultimate goal of Heart Screens for Teens is to have all area middle schools and high schools host the screenings, which can cost upwards of $1,000 by a cardiologist, but are far cheaper thanks to donations. Non-athletes are encouraged to undergo the screening as well.
“We can screen these kids and have a clear conscience,” Fuad Reveiz said. “Those are the kind of things that you can prevent. My goal is to get it as cheap as possible and in as many hands as possible.
“This is a very preventable type of thing so there’s really no excuse to be able to do it.”
Heart Screens for Teens will be at CAK on March 17-20. To make donations, go to heartscreensforteens.com.
The Other Reveiz: UT senior linebacker Nick Reveiz is making good progress as he rehabilitates a torn knee ligament suffered against Ohio in September 2009.
“Nick is doing real well,” the elder Reveiz said. “It’s kind of like putting a big tiger in a little cage. You’ve got to tell him ‘No, you can’t do that.’
“He feels like he’s 100 percent but that ligament has to attach itself to the bone more than 100 percent. You don’t want that ligament to experience any stresses that the ligament isn’t ready to experience. He’s going to chew his arm off not being in practice this spring.”
Nick Reveiz is expected to participate in some aspects of spring drills, with limitations on lateral movement and no contact. He is expected to be released in approximately six weeks and be 100 percent in time for fall camp.
No Woes For Wes: Former UT defensive tackle Wes Brown said his ailing knees that limited him last season have recovered nicely this off-season.
“They’re doing good,” Brown said. “I’m just enjoying the time off from them and being able to rest them. They’re feeling better. As long as I can play golf and enjoy myself and they don’t bother me, I’m fine with it.”
Brown was considering surgery but said he doesn’t see that being necessary anytime soon, even though physical activity can still cause some aches and pains.
Off-Season Report: It’s a good thing Brown’s knees aren’t in UT’s off-season workouts under first-year coach Derek Dooley.
“From what I’ve heard from (defensive end) Chris Walker and my other good buddies on the team, it’s very tough,” Brown said. “It’s very mentally challenging and very physically challenging as well. There’s no doubt that they’re headed in the right direction.”
