By Robert Davis
USA TODAY
Copyright 2007 Gannett Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
All high schools and colleges should be more prepared to save the lives of athletes who have a sudden cardiac arrest, according to medical guidelines published today.
The recommendations, in the April edition of Heart Rhythm, say every school with competitive athletic programs should have an automated external defibrillator (AED) within reach, as well as a practiced plan to summon help, perform CPR and use the device to save a life.
“We had trainers who had been at the side of an athlete who had a cardiac arrest who had the courage to come in and tell us about what had happened,” says Jonathan Drezner, a physician from the University of Washington in Seattle who was the lead author of the guidelines. “We reviewed all of these cases and learned from them.”
Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death for young athletes. It occurs when the heart stops suddenly -- most commonly because of a previously unrecognized disorder or after a ball or other object strikes the chest.
Though the exact number of cardiac arrests among school athletes is unknown, the guidelines’ authors say the best estimates -- one in every 100,000 to 200,000 high school athletes and one in every 65,000 to 69,000 in college -- probably are underestimated.
Sudden cardiac arrest is often reversible with quick action. But lifesaving steps must be taken immediately, because the difference between life and death is decided within six minutes.
A panel of medical experts gathered by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association wrote the guidelines. They call for schools to:
*Establish an emergency communication system so help can be summoned quickly.
*Coordinate their plans with local emergency medical services.
*Ensure that an AED is handy.
*Train staff and students to respond, perform CPR and use the AED.
*Practice their response to a cardiac arrest at least once a year.
Across New York state, where teams are required to have AEDs on the sidelines, 14 students and 40 adults have been saved, says Rachel Moyer of Parent Heart Watch, a grass-roots group that pushes for AEDs in schools.
Moyer lost her 15-year-old son, Gregory, during a basketball game in 2000 when he suffered cardiac arrest at a Pennsylvania high school. The school did not have an AED.
Parent Heart Watch includes 105 families across the country who have lost children to cardiac arrest. “We think that a majority of these deaths are preventable,” Moyer says.
Adds Victoria Vetter, chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who was not part of the study: “Schools have to have plans. Unless people are trained and go over it and over it, you are not ready to act.”