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ICD/Pacemaker

Would you know what to do?

At its core, this blog aims to do some good. I don’t like to ask for things. It’s not why I write. Today is an exception. I’m going to ask you to learn about and maybe support an important cause. The topic is sudden cardiac death–our number-one killer. There are a lot of folks working […]

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Athletic heart Exercise General Medicine

The NY Times gets it wrong on ECG screening of young athletes

When a news source as powerful as The NY Times publishes an article about sudden cardiac death in young people, one expects accurate information. It’s far too important a topic to write about imprecisely. This piece, entitled Should Young Athletes Be Screened for Heart Risk, included numerous inaccuracies and failed to tell important facts about […]

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Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Cycling Wed

CW: The mysterious athletic heart

A very accomplished colleague of mine once mused—about an athletic patient with a heart problem: “John…the guy is only a cyclist…It’s not like riding a bike is that hard.” I wanted to call him to the EP lab to feel how the heart of an endurance athlete rocks the catheter that you hold in your […]

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Athletic heart Doctoring General Cardiology General Medicine Health Care Reform

A five-minute cardiac screen for athletes?

It’s heart-wrenching when young athletes die of sudden cardiac death (SCD). This week, the death of Wes Leonard, a Michigan high school star athlete, was especially poignant since he collapsed right after hitting the game-winning shot.  This sort of tragedy occurs about one hundred times each year in America. That’s a lot of sadness. The […]