Yesterday Fabrice Muamba, a top athlete in premier league football collapsed suddenly (with no other players around him) and now remains anaesthetised in hospital and will be for at least 24 hours. Doctors and paramedics on the pitch soon realised this was no ordinary football injury and were quick to act. Muamba had suffered from a cardiac arrest and doctors spent 6 minutes trying to resuscitate him on the pitch, they then tried to revive him using a defibrillator in the tunnel and were finally successful in doing so on route to hospital.
The cause of the arrest is currently unknown but one possible cause is hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (or "hocum" as its nicknamed).
In hocum a genetic abnormality causes the muscular wall of the heart to grow far thicker than it is supposed to. Repeated vigorous exercise (for example that of a professional athlete) makes matters worse, causing the wall to become so thick that it stops the normal flow of blood through the heart. Obviously this is very dangerous and can be life threatening.
A malfunctioning heart pump usually causes problems in far older or less healthy people however although an athlete with hocum might seem very fit their heart is in fact struggling severely. Sudden strain, such as a sports fixture demands an overwhelming effort and often the first signs of trouble are rapid, for example collapse.
The heart's ability to pump has been compromised in such a way that it can no longer beat in the co-ordinated manner it's supposed to and therefore cardiac arrest occurs.
My thoughts are with Fabrice Muamba and his family, hoping he recovers.
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