A 19-year-old student of 12th standard collapsed to his death on Saturday 2 March. The incident occurred while he was writing his exam in Secunderabad, Telangana, reported The News Minute. M Gopi Raju complained of chest pain before the collapse. The report further stated that while the official cause of death is still unclear, police suspect it to be a cardiac arrest.
In a similar case a little over a month ago, a young athlete had collapsed collapsed on the field during a warm-up. The accident took place on 15 January, when the 21-year-old had to be rushed to the hospital by his teammates where he was reportedly declared brought dead due to a cardiac arrest.
Aniket Sharma was a left-handed batsman who had joined the cricket academy in Kolkata in 2018.
Traditionally, sudden deaths linked to the heart have been associated with people who are 60 years old or above. So what exactly happened in these two cases where both the afflicted were young, while one was also an athlete, an ideal example of a healthy and fit person?
While it remains to be confirmed if Raju suffered a cardiac arrest, Dr Mukesh Goel, a cardiac surgeon at Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, pointed out that the latter case is definitely different. To further understand what could have happened here’s a look at some basic functioning of the human heart.
When a heart attack happens, there are abnormalities in the electrical and muscular structure of the heart and there is no way to prevent it, points out Dr Goel.
However, this is different from a cardiac arrest.
The doctor assumes that this is probably what happened with the young athlete as well.
According to Dr Arvind Das, senior cardiologist at Max Hospital, Gurgaon, there is a very specific heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy where an athlete can suddenly fall to their death on the field.
1. This condition is marked by a thickening of one part of the heart muscle, making it harder to pump blood. This, in turn, causes an imbalance in the demand and supply of blood, adds Dr Das.
In order to avoid this, the doctor points out, screening is important from an early age.
2. The second instance of a heart attack on the field, or on a treadmill, another place where in rare situations, young, fit people might go into a fatal heart emergency, is when due to some reason, a sudden blood clot forms in the heart. The clot blocks the blood to an artery thereby leading to a heart attack.
This sudden drop in the flow is especially harmful for a healthy heart unaccustomed to functioning at low blood circulation. If a heart is already weak, it would have already grown used to it.
3. Another situation is when there is gradual deposition of cholesterol in the heart over the years. This can start as early as at five years of age.
Dr Goel further points out that during exercise, a person is more inclined to get a cardiac arrest. This is true of all age groups.
The doctor further adds that 50 percent of all cardiac arrest-related deaths are preventable with some basic first aid. This includes CPR and massaging along with the use of defibrillators.
This is why it’s important for all schools, offices, colleges and gyms to give a basic CPR training, he says.
Dr Das adds that in case of a sudden collapse on a field, CPR should be administered immediately as first aid. Pumping at the rate of 60-70 times a minute should help before professional intervention arrives. While cases like this one might be rare anecdotes, he says, it’s important to proceed gradually when trying to push boundaries of the body.
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