We need to screen our athletes and not only those at national level but also at university and school level, stresses Dr. Gamini Galappatthy quoting the recent incident where English soccer player Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the field during a game.
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The moment Muamba fell.
Pic courtesy heraldsun.com.au |
Luckily for Muamba, paramedics rushed him to hospital, for he had suffered a cardiac arrest, where he was kept in the Intensive Care Unit for a month and survived to tell the tale, says this Cardiologist who is also an advisor to the Sports Medicine Unit of the Sports Ministry here.
“For Muamba it was a happy ending, but for many others it may not be,” he says, urging the screening of all athletes with a simple ECG which would reveal a Cardiomyopathy. If the ECG indicates any abnormalities, a heart scan could follow.
Everyone assumes that those engaging in sports, as they are in the prime of their lives, are perfectly healthy. But if detected with the three congenital conditions that cause Cardiomyopathy, they should be stopped from competitive sports immediately for their own safety. Although in Sri Lanka, national level sportsmen undergo both a physical and medical examination and if a cardiac disturbance in the form of a murmur is detected they would be referred to a Cardiologist who will do the necessary tests and take follow-up action, the others don’t fall within the system, he said.
Meanwhile, referring to the death of a schoolchild in Kelaniya after participating in a marathon recently, Dr. Galappatthy said he was found to have a rare condition in which over-exertion led to heart vessels getting torn and releasing a blood clot, leading to a heart attack. |
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