Arrhythmias and Sudden Death in Athletes

Since the 1990s, news media reports on sudden death in young, trained athletes have raised concern in both the medical community and the lay public. Although these events are tragic, they nevertheless bear little relation to the vast numbers of young athletes participating safely in a wide variety of sporting activities. However, the increasing interest and concern have also been instrumental in increased awareness and important research on this subject. This work covers much of this scientific research. It describes the scope of the problem, provides classifications, suggests treatments and offers guidelines, all from both the American and the European points of view. This book should be useful for sports medicine physicians, cardiologists, paediatricians and geriatricians as well as other health care personnel working in the field of sports medicine, and even coaches of sportsmen who may be exposed to sudden death. It should assist them in determining when an athlete is at risk for severe cardiovascular disease, or even sudden death and what should be done for the prevention of this sort of heart complication.