Sudden death in young people

Sudden death is the sudden and unexpected occurrence of cardiac arrest in a person who appears to be healthy and in good health 24 hours before.

It is rare, however, that patients who are at risk can take precautions to avoid it. It is usually due to an undetected heart defect or abnormalities of the heart that went unnoticed. Sudden death usually occurs during an activity. physical, either doing exercises or another similar, and is more common in men than in women.

The majority of deaths occur in older adults, especially those with coronary artery disease. In people older than 35 years, the main cause is heart attack.

Among the causes of sudden death are:

1. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
2. Coronary anomalies
3. Left ventricular hypertrophy
4. Arrhythmogenic dysplasia of the right ventricle
5. Myocarditis
6. Aortic anomalies
7. Early coronary disease, as is familial hypercholesterolemia.

For various reasons, something causes the heartbeat to go out of control. This abnormal heart rhythm is known as ventricular fibrillation.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy:

In this condition, which is usually hereditary, the walls of the heart muscle thicken. The thickened muscle can alter the electrical system of the heart and cause rapid or irregular heartbeats (arrhythmias), which can cause sudden death.

Although not usually fatal, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most frequent cause of sudden cardiac death in children under 30 years of age, and is the most frequent identifiable cause of sudden death in athletes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy usually progresses undetected. Many times, patients have no symptoms and are diagnosed casually by an ECG, a routine examination, etc.

Some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may suffer symptoms such as fatigue, a sensation of sustained palpitations, chest pain or loss of consciousness. Despite being hereditary, the disease is not usually detected until the stage of body development, in adolescence. These changes usually occur without symptoms, which makes diagnosis difficult.

The manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be very different even within the same family. In one out of every four patients suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, excess muscle gets in the area of expulsion of the heart's blood, causing what is known as obstructive form.

As the heart has to make an extra effort to overcome this obstacle, patients with this type of disease tend to be more limited in their quality of life and require more intense treatments. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy does not limit the duration or quality of life in most of those affected.

Published in: Today Digital Newspaper