Abstract

Annotation: Any death of a young person is tragic; however, the sudden death of a young athlete is a particularly devastating event within a community. Emotions raised by these incidents include sorrow for the young person’s death, fear of our own mortality, incredulity at the loss of a seemingly healthy individual, and anger. These events beg for an explanation as to why these deaths occur, and how they can be prevented. In this article, Dr. Leski presents the demographics and etiology for sudden death in young athletes and briefly discusses the process of screening athletes before athletic participation. Although these deaths are rare, they often garner great attention and produce great controversy, especially concerning the use of screening tools such as echocardiogram. At this time, the use of echocardiography as a routing screening tool does not appear justified; however, the use of electrocardiography in the athletic population will certainly change as technology improves and our understanding of these deaths improve. In addition, as Dr. Leski mentions, the use of genetic markers may be the next great step toward preventing these tragic events.