Leonard is the second Fennville athlete to die in 14 months. Associated Press writer Mike Householder in Detroit contributed to this report. Watch Now: Related Video. Watch now: Wisconsin men's hockey seeing scoring uptick ahead of series against Michigan State. Tennis star Novak Djokovic still faces possible deportation from Australia. Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
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Breaking News Subscribe. Crime Subscribe. Symptoms, such as shortness of breath, rapid and irregular pulse, chest pain and faintness, are often subtle and develop slowly over time. But they can be severe and come on suddenly. When detected, dilated cardiomyopathy can be treated using drugs that lower blood pressure or dilate the blood vessels. But screening tests that effectively detect so-called "silent" heart problems are limited.
One reason for the dearth is the rarity of sudden death from all cardiovascular causes among young athletes. The prevalence, according to the NEJM review, is only 0. Currently, most U. But the quality of both has been the topic of scrutiny, according to the NEJM review. Paul Thompson, director of cardiology and the athletes' heart program at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, said it's unlikely that a routine physical exam would have picked up Leonard's condition. If not, it's not," Thompson said.
It can happen very, very quickly. It comes out of the blue. On Wednesday night, Leonard wrote on Facebook: "Got a good long shower Kid gets a bad case of the flu, they come back and they don't feel quite the same," Thompson said. It can happen within two weeks. Thompson said the flu can cause inflammation of the heart, called myocarditis, which can weaken the muscle walls leading to dilated cardiomyopathy.
Sudden death is not always the result of heart defects. His coach described him as a healthy and disciplined athlete who was the top scorer on his basketball team as well as the quarterback of the school's football team which won its conference's championship this season.
Marc Lahiri, a specialist in disorders of heart rhythm for Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital , said that detecting underlying heart abnormalities is difficult and such defects may not become apparent until the occurrence of a sudden and perhaps fatal event. Lahiri said many doctors are encouraging schools to make extensive testing of the heart routine for physicals given to school athletes.
Such testing is controversial, not only because of the cost but because of possible false-positives that may lead to the need for additional testing. Have an opinion on this story? Share it! Share this:. This page is archived , and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Please note that due to our archival policy , we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
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