Most of us saw the gut-wrenching coverage this past week of the student athlete in MI who collapsed on the basketball court moments after hitting the game winning shot for his highschool basketball team, and died later at the hospital. It turns out that he had an undiagnosed heart condition, known as dilated cardiomyopathy. I'm not sure how it's possible to read something like that, if you're a parent, and not have a visceral reaction to it. It's every parent's worst nightmare. Inevitably, discussions ensue in the aftermath of something like this, going back and forth about whether something could have been done to prevent it. Was there some way his physician should have known? Were there warning signs? Should everyone with children involved in sports be concerned? How do I know if my child has silent heart disease?
These exact questions have been the center of much controversy in the pediatric and pedatric cardiology fields around the world. Some countries, like Italy, have mandated universal screening with a 12-lead EKG before sports participation. Other countries, like Denmark, have conducted studies looking at whether a universal screening program would be effective in reducing deaths, and have found no proven benefit. The most recent, and comprehensive study to date, done in Israel, addressed this again, and found no proven benefit to a universal screening program. For anyone interested, here is a link to the study details:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/738577?src=mpnews&spon=9
I am curious to get some parent feeback about thoughts, opinions, and comments regarding this controversy. Currently in the U.S., the standard of care is pre-participation screening with a history and physical only. Share your opinions about whether or not you think universal EKG screening should be mandated in the U.S.
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