By Bill Hendrick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As many as 7,000 children die annually from sudden cardiac arrest — often while participating in athletics, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association said Wednesday.
Many could be saved if experts took action within six to 10 minutes to save them, said Ron Courson, director of sports medicine at the University of Georgia and co-chair of a task force fighting sudden cardiac arrest in athletes.
In a panel discussion at the Omni Hotel, he said automated electronic defibrillators (AEDs) are becoming more common in public places, but thousands more need to be purchased and installed in schools, sports sites and anywhere large numbers of people gather.
About 400,000 Americans have sudden cardiac arrests a year, he said, and only about 5 percent survive.
Courson spoke along with Dr. Winston Gandy Jr., director of the Cardio Lab at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Gandy said some of the sudden deaths in children occur after surgery or for other reasons.
“We know that SCA [sudden cardiac arrest] is the most common cause of death in children, and we know many of these deaths can be prevented,” Gandy said.
Given the millions of youngsters who participate in athletics, “these [deaths] are rare events,” said Dr. Jonathan Drezner of the University of Washington, co-chair of the task force, “but any is too many. With proper physical exams, close surveillance by coaches and parents, we could do a better job of saving these kids.”
AEDs have proved themselves at airports, including Atlanta’s, because they are simple to operate for anyone, even a child.
“Survival rates could be 40 percent if people helped a person within just a few minutes,” he said, adding that only 25 percent of schools have AEDs. “Every minute without a defibrillator, survivability goes down 10 percent.”
The panel stressed that lives could be saved if schools or parents groups bought defibrillators, which range in price from $2,000 to less than $1,000. Other panelists included Mike Meyer, a trainer at Vanderbilt who saved the life of a basketball player last March, and Robert Schriever, 64, a high school referee who “went down” with sudden cardiac arrest while officiating a football game in the Boston area but was shocked back to life by an AED.
“Evidence suggests that risk of a cardiac event is higher during or immediately following vigorous exercise,” the NATA statement said. “Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is critical to maintaining the supply of oxygen to vital organs, but the single most effective treatment for cardiac arrest is defibrillation.”
Panel members mentioned some victims by name, including football player Ryan Boslet, 17, of Alpharetta, who died in 2003 while running full speed in a drill at Chattahoochee High School.
No one knows the exact numbers of high school and college athletes who die of sudden cardiac arrest, because there is no one agency that keeps track. Many go unreported because some unaware coroners write the death off to dehydration or heat stroke, or shocked parents oppose autopsies.
STRUCK DOWN YOUNG
Youngsters who have died suddenly while participating in sports events in Georgia:
* Ryan Boslet, 17, a junior at Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta. He died Feb. 20, 2003, of a sudden cardiac arrest while running sprints in offseason practice for football. His school had an automated electronic defibrillator, but no one knew how to use it. Medics arrived within minutes but couldn’t revive him. Doctors worked on him but were unable to get his heart to start beating again.
* Shai Owens, 16, a junior at Cedar Grove High who died of sudden cardic arrest, died during a track meet Aug. 27, 2002. Her mother, Nicolette Owens, says she knew nothing about sudden cardiac arrests but has pushed the DeKalb School System to require defibrillators at all schools. “They worked on her for a long time,” she says. “The doctor came out and said, ‘She’s not responding.’ I just said, ‘let her go’. I guess they look for miracles, too.”
* Derrick Plankenhorn, 18, died at a track practice at Southeast Bulloch High School on Feb. 19, 2003. At 6-2 and 160 pounds, his nickname was “White Lightning.”
* Nader Parman II, 7, died May 17, 2002, when struck in the chest by a baseball, triggering a sudden cardiac arrest. He was playing in his East Cobb cul-de-sac when the ball hit him in the chest. According to the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, this type of injury kills 15 children a year.