FA Cup '12

[jimsig]

Nothing was mentioned as to how they would be funded. I agree if it came out out of pocket lots of kids would surely drop out. Maybe if it becomes law the state would make the health insurers pick up the cost.

[SoCalJoe]

Maybe it's because of the media landscape, but you seem to hear about so many young athletes passing away than years ago, and many from the heart ailments that pre-screening could pick up. You would think that the NCAA (like they don't have the money ) could foot the bill for incoming freshman.

[DCHeather]

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/story/ ... r-critical

Sounds like he is improving.

The 23-year-old Bolton midfielder collapsed on the field just before halftime at Tottenham on Saturday. Initial attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and his heart started beating on its own again only later in the hospital.

For two days, amid an outpouring of global support, Muamba remained in critical condition in intensive care in a heart attack unit, and his long-term prognosis was uncertain.

But the Congo-born player made progress throughout Monday, with medics no longer describing his condition as "critical" by the evening.

"He is continuing to show signs of improvement this evening," Bolton and the London Chest Hospital said in a joint statement. "He is now able to breathe independently without the aid of a ventilator. He has also been able to recognize family members and respond to questions appropriately.

"These are all positive signs of progress. However, his condition remains serious and the medical staff in intensive care will continue to monitor and treat him."

[DCHeather]

At the end of the story:

At Tottenham, players were due to undergo tests for potential heart defects, with cardiologist Sanjay Sharma saying "the players have all demanded cardiac screening" at a planned routine visit on Monday.

"That involves taking a history relating to cardiac symptoms, which include chest pain during exertion or breath which is disproportionate to the amount of exercise being performed and blackouts, (and) asking about a family history because many of these conditions that can cause cardiac arrest are hereditary," Sharma said.

"We then perform a cardiac examination and following that we do an ECG (electrocardiogram), which is an electrical tracing of the heart which looks for electric faults of the heart, and a cardiac ultrasound, which looks at heart muscle problems or problems with the heart values."

I guess that answers my question that cardio testing is not a routine part for physicals when signing with teams.

[Clevelandmo]

Great news that Muamba is improving, I hope this means his survival is certain.

I think the screening issue is a really difficult one. Ryan Shay died during the Olympic trials for the marathon yet he had been cleared by a doctor just months prior, despite having a known heart condition. Also athletes commonly have enlarged hearts and the symptoms, such as shortness of breath or chest pain, that could alert a doctor to a potential life threatening heart condition are something elite athletes are more prone to ignore. So the diagnosis becomes a difficult, nebulous one in some cases. I read that the Italian government instituted mandatory ECGs for teen athletes and they significantly reduced the instances of sudden cardiac arrest within that group. However, 1 out of 50 Italian teens were required to quit sports as a result of the screening. The American Heart Assoc. (or one of those heart groups) said if we were to do something similar we would end up asking 2,000 athletes to give up sports for every life saved and they are reluctant to do that. They say improved screening is needed.

Oh and I also read that you would have to do the screening regularly because these risky heart conditions may not manifest themselves until a certain age - what's there at 22 yrs of age may not have been at 19.

[SoCalJoe]

Good to hear about the young man, especially for his fiance and young son. Hope he makes a full recovery, and is able to live a long and fruitful life.

Interesting point you hit on Mo with the screening versus personal decisions on whether to continue w/an activity. There is no concrete answer (and no fool proof way to detect a potential problem), but you would hope that increasing screening will take place here.

[DCHeather]

Great news that Muamba is improving, I hope this means his survival is certain.

I think the screening issue is a really difficult one. Ryan Shay died during the Olympic trials for the marathon yet he had been cleared by a doctor just months prior, despite having a known heart condition. Also athletes commonly have enlarged hearts and the symptoms, such as shortness of breath or chest pain, that could alert a doctor to a potential life threatening heart condition are something elite athletes are more prone to ignore. So the diagnosis becomes a difficult, nebulous one in some cases. I read that the Italian government instituted mandatory ECGs for teen athletes and they significantly reduced the instances of sudden cardiac arrest within that group. However, 1 out of 50 Italian teens were required to quit sports as a result of the screening. The American Heart Assoc. (or one of those heart groups) said if we were to do something similar we would end up asking 2,000 athletes to give up sports for every life saved and they are reluctant to do that. They say improved screening is needed.

Oh and I also read that you would have to do the screening regularly because these risky heart conditions may not manifest themselves until a certain age - what's there at 22 yrs of age may not have been at 19.

Ryan Shay is certainly a case in which the running community holds a big interest, since there hasn't been anything conclusive to determine the source of his death. His heart was enlarged, and been so since he was a teenager. He had x-rays done of his at 14 from pneumonia and again a couple of years later after a car crash. His heart had increased quite a bit in size between those years. His large heart was the condition that articles following his death mention. But Athlete's heart is very common in endurance athletes, and can be confused with serious heart disease on an ECG, such as HCM. But an athlete having a large heart is not in itself fatal and follow up testing can rule out HCM and other defects.

It was determined that Ryan did not have HCM. Ryan's coroner report found "patchy fibrosis" from an undetermined cause. And the scaring led to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia...if I understand the report and doctor's explanations properly. Doctors have speculated that the fibrosis (scaring) was likely due to the pneumonia or some other viral infection earlier in his life. Before the coroner's report quite of few runner's were speculating that he may have doped, and that led to his heart attack, but his toxicology reports were clean according to his father. I side with the docs and not the conspiracy theorists.

Also here's a study on Italy's national heart testing program that Mo mentioned and may interest some. Yeah, it's schoraly, but very brief. http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/con ... 6.full.pdf

[Clevelandmo]

Ryan Shay is certainly a case in which the running community holds a big interest, since there hasn't been anything conclusive to determine the source of his death. His heart was enlarged, and been so since he was a teenager. He had x-rays done of his at 14 from pneumonia and again a couple of years later after a car crash. His heart had increased quite a bit in size between those years. His large heart was the condition that articles following his death mention. But Athlete's heart is very common in endurance athletes, and can be confused with serious heart disease on an ECG, such as HCM. But an athlete having a large heart is not in itself fatal and follow up testing can rule out HCM and other defects.

It was determined that Ryan did not have HCM. Ryan's coroner report found "patchy fibrosis" from an undetermined cause. And the scaring led to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia...if I understand the report and doctor's explanations properly. Doctors have speculated that the fibrosis (scaring) was likely due to the pneumonia or some other viral infection earlier in his life. Before the coroner's report quite of few runner's were speculating that he may have doped, and that led to his heart attack, but his toxicology reports were clean according to his father. I side with the docs and not the conspiracy theorists.

That's interesting about Shay; I hadnt heard those details. I knew viurses were linked with arrhythmias but was not aware it could be due to permanent damage in the form of fybrosis. I thought they temporarily increased the risk due to inflammation resulting from the virus.

Ives reported that Coyle was able to talk with Fabrice so things continue to look up.

[SoCalJoe]

Glad to be able to revisit this thread w/the knowledge that Muamba keeps improving.

The semifinals this weekend w/only one team to root for;

Sunday's Spuds v Undead matchup, I'd rather be ...

However, the Merseyside derby aka Everton v Liverpool should be a great one to watch. Everton is a very likable team (combine history; Joe Max Moore & Brian McBride w/the current squad; Tim Howard between the sticks and Landon's sojourns). Moyes is as good a manager at maximizing his talent as any manager in the Prem. Pulling for the Toffees, and would love to see Timmy get his hands on the Cup again (pretty sure he started and won for ManUre once).

[jumpkutz]

Freakin' scousers equalized...darn.

[jumpkutz]

Can't help but wonder how much better toffees would be with LD at this point...

[SoCalJoe]

Well that sucked. Pretty poor game in terms of play, but DAMMIT our team needs to play in that stadium w/that atmosphere. Everton scored on a gaffe by Carragher, but nothing compared to the attempted backpass by Distin to tie it. What in the world was he doing?? Toffees were pretty toothless throughout and agree w/you Jump, LD was sorely needed. He is amazingly talented, but Suarez is a just a total #$*@!

[Clevelandmo]

I have to wonder if Suarez didnt get a piece of Distan's back pass (or was is a pass to his CD), if not it is so inexplicable that you want to

would have made my day if Everton won, shucks

[jumpkutz]

Scousers and scum. How boring.

[MisterF]

Was rooting for Spurs today but Chelsea ended up being the better team. Still some awful calls that went against Tottenham. They realllly need to get replays and goal line technology implemented soon.

No idea who I will root for between Liverpool and Chelsea. Considering Suarez in on Liverpool it might have to be Chelsea