Saving kids’ lives with an ECG
BACKGROUND: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. If this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain and other vital organs. SCA usually causes death if it's not treated within minutes. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a primary cause of death in adults (there are about 300,000 sudden cardiac deaths each year in the United States alone), it’s quite rare in the young people but it can happen. It’s estimated that 6-8,000 deaths result from SCA in the young on an annual basis. (SOURCE: National Heart and Lung Blood Institute)
CAUSES AND SIGNS: The causes of SCA and death in young people vary. However, what all SCA episodes have in common is the final common pathway that leads to death. For a variety of reasons, something causes the heart to degenerate into a chaotic and abnormal electrical rhythm and the heart beats out of control. This abnormal heart rhythm is known as ventricular fibrillation. Many times death occur with no advance warning. However, there are a couple of signs that can indicate trouble. The first is sudden and unexplained fainting that occurs during physical exertion. This is known as syncope. In addition to syncope, seizures can also occur. The other major warning sign is a family history of unexplained deaths before the age of 50. (SOURCE: Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation)
NEW GENERATION OF TESTS: A pilot study in healthy children and adolescents shows that it is feasible to screen for undiagnosed heart conditions that increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Adding a 10-minute electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) to a history and physical examination identified unsuspected cases of potentially serious heart conditions.
The study team identified previously undiagnosed cardiac abnormalities in 23 subjects, and hypertension in an additional 20. Ten of the 400 subjects (about 2.5 percent) had potentially serious cardiac conditions. Of those 10 subjects, only one had experienced symptoms, and those had previously been dismissed. None of the 10 subjects had a family history of SCA
The study showed using ECG, outperformed the history and physical examination and found previously unidentified potentially serious abnormalities that would not have been identified by history and physical examination alone. (SOURCE: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
* For More Information, Contact:
Joey McCool/Media Relations
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
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