13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-221

Clinical profile of commotio cordis: a new cause of sudden death in the young during sporting activities

Barry J. Maron.
Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, Minneapolis, USA

Introduction

A large proportion of the United States population participates in athletic activities, often involving systematic sports training and competition. As a consequence, considerable interest has evolved regarding physiologic and morphologic cardiac adaptations to physical conditioning (i.e., athlete's heart)^1-6. In addition, the sudden unexpected deaths of young athletes have become highly visible events that have stimulated considerable debate⁷. These rare but devastating catastrophes have usually proven to be the consequence of a variety of unsuspected congenital or acquired cardiovascular disease^8-12. Sports participants are also subject to certain other cardiovascular risks, including commotio cordis - i.e., the less well recognized phenomenon of blunt, nonpenetrating and relatively innocent appearing chest blows leading to virtually instantaneous cardiac arrest without structural injury to be ribs, sternum or heart^13,14.