greenwood collapes

[Devilsdancefloor]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...headline_stack


Wow 23 and heart attack?

[Chidi29]

Wow, I'm shocked. Get well soon Brett!

[Count Steeler]

Yikes! Get well soon.

[HometownGal]

WOW. I hope they can find out what definitely happened and that he can get on the road to recovery quickly.

[BigNastyDefense]

Holy cow. He is in my prayers. I hope they can figure out what happened and he can get better.

[GodfatherofSoul]

I'd guess this is steroid related

[Chidi29]

I'd guess this is steroid related

I dunno, Greenwood was a tiny dude.

Wonder if it's drugs? Iowa had a pretty nasty drug ring. DJK got kicked off the team for it.

But I don't want to jump to conclusions either.

[zulater]

I'd guess this is steroid related

I'd be more inclined to guess that he was born with some sort of congential heart defect that had previously been undiganosed.

[zulater]

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/n...y_115319.html\

FRIDAY, Aug. 12 (HealthDay News) -- About 76 young U.S. athletes collapse and die from sudden cardiac arrest during practice or a game every year, which has led some experts to call for mandatory electrocardiograms to screen players for possibly fatal heart defects.

But a recent study found that pediatric heart specialists don't always get it right when reading these tests, known as ECGs.

"What this does is add another layer of complication and confusion to the controversy," said first study author Dr. Allison Hill, a pediatric resident at Stanford University when she did the research. "Not only do ECGS not always show diseases that could lead to sudden cardiac death, but the people reading them are not always interpreting them correctly."

During an ECG, electrodes attached to the chest and limbs measure electrical impulses generated as the heart beats. ECGs can detect heart rhythm abnormalities and other conditions that could cause the heart to stop suddenly.

The most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle that makes it more difficult to pump blood, Hill said. Other causes include myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can lead to excessively rapid heart rate.

This study found that pediatric cardiologists missed dangerous heart abnormalities about 32 percent of the time and mistakenly diagnosed a heart abnormality in 30 percent of cases. High rates of inappropriate sports guidance could result from the errors, the researchers said.

For the study, recently published online in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers asked 53 pediatric cardiologists to interpret 18 ECGs from teens with and without heart abnormalities. On average, doctors correctly interpreted 12.4 ECGs.

The doctors were also asked to determine if it was safe for the child to continue in sports. Some heart defects are more severe than others, and having a heart abnormality doesn't necessarily mean a child can't participate in athletics.

For about three-quarters of the teens without heart problems, doctors made the correct recommendation in giving them the all-clear to participate in sports.

Among those with heart defects, doctors were correct 81 percent of the time in restricting sports, but in 19 percent of cases, they would have approved participation even though it would have been dangerous to do so, Hill said.

"An ideal screening test is going to have 100 percent accuracy," said Hill, now a pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital Boston. "In this case, even when ECGs showed underlying cardiac disease, pediatric cardiologists were not always able to pick up on it."

Physicians were better at spotting some heart defects than others. Part of the difficulty in reading ECGs is that certain dangerous heart abnormalities mimic healthy changes in the hearts of athletes, Hill noted. A fit heart, for example, tends to grow larger and beat more slowly, but some abnormalities can cause a similar change.

The American Heart Association does not recommend mandatory ECG screening for U.S. youth athletes for several reasons, one being cost -- about $431 based on the Medicare reimbursement rate, according to background information in the study.

[zulater]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sudden-death/HB00092

Sudden death in young people — Heart problems often blamed

Sudden death in young people is rare, but those at risk can take precautions. Find out more about the risk factors, causes and treatments.
By Mayo Clinic staff
Sudden death in people under age 35, often due to hidden heart defects or overlooked heart abnormalities, is rare. When these sudden deaths do occur, it's often during physical activity, such as a sporting event.

Millions of elementary, high school and college athletes compete every year without incident. Fortunately, if you or your child is at risk of sudden death, there are screening tests for heart defects, and precautions you can take.

How common is sudden cardiac death in young people?

There are 250,000 to 450,000 sudden cardiac arrests each year in the United States alone, but most deaths due to sudden cardiac arrest are in older adults. Of those sudden cardiac arrests, very few occur in young people, and only some of those young people die of sudden cardiac arrest.

What can cause sudden cardiac death in young people?

The causes of sudden cardiac death in young people vary. About two-thirds of the time, a coroner discovers during an autopsy that the death was due to a heart abnormality.

For a variety of reasons, something — such as a structural heart defect — causes the heart to beat out of control. This abnormal heart rhythm is known as ventricular fibrillation.

Some specific causes of sudden cardiac death in young people include:
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This is a disease in which the heart muscle (myocardium) becomes abnormally thick, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, while usually not fatal in most people, is the most common cause of heart-related sudden death in people under 30. It's the most common cause of sudden death in athletes. HCM often goes undetected.
Coronary artery abnormalities. Sometimes people are born with heart arteries (coronary arteries) that are connected abnormally. The arteries can become compressed during exercise and not provide proper blood flow to the heart.
Long QT syndrome (LQTS). Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an inherited heart rhythm disorder that can cause fast, chaotic heartbeats. The rapid heartbeats, caused by changes in the part of your heart that causes it to beat, may lead to fainting, which can be life-threatening. In some cases, your heart's rhythm may be so erratic that it can cause sudden death. Young people with long QT syndrome have an increased risk of sudden death.

There are other causes of sudden cardiac death in young people. These include structural abnormalities of the heart, including unrecognized congenital heart disease and heart muscle abnormalities. Other causes include inflammation of the heart muscle, which can be caused by viruses and other illnesses. In addition to long QT syndrome, there are other abnormalities of the heart's electrical system, such as Brugada syndrome, which can cause sudden death.

There's another rare cause of sudden cardiac death that can occur in anyone, though it's usually heard about in young people who play sports. It occurs as the result of a blunt blow to the chest — such as being hit by a baseball or hockey puck — at just the right time. Its medical name is commotio cordis. The blow to the chest can trigger ventricular fibrillation if the blow strikes at exactly the wrong time in the heart's electrical cycle.

[zulater]

I might be wrong in my guess, but at least i wont feel like a total shit if I'm proven wrong as more facts come out.

[X-Terminator]

I might be wrong in my guess, but at least i wont feel like a total shit if I'm proven wrong as more facts come out.

You're probably correct in your guess. It could be drugs, but I doubt it. It would have been discovered long ago. At any rate, I hope the kid is OK.

[Godfather]

Could be a heart defect. We just lost a high school player last night:

http://www.sunherald.com/2011/09/10/...-for-high.html

[Chidi29]

Could be a heart defect. We just lost a high school player last night:

http://www.sunherald.com/2011/09/10/...-for-high.html

These stories are unfortunately becoming too frequent.

[stillers4me]

Wow.

[Shoes]

I'd be more inclined to guess that he was born with some sort of congential heart defect that had previously been undiganosed.

I agree Z......

[fansince'76]

Hope he's OK.

[Texasteel]

I believe Greenwood is a pretty straight kid, but you never know for sure. Hope he pulls out of this fine.

[86WARD]

Hope the kid is alright...