Frequently Asked Questions

There are certain people who are gene carriers for some of the conditions such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or long QT syndrome but these individuals do not manifest any of the clinical features, ECG features or echocardiographic features of the condition. These types of individuals are known as obligate carriers. They can, however, pass the gene on

There is certainly a connection between certain sport deaths and long QT syndrome. The most common sporting discipline that is associated with sudden death in long QT syndrome is swimming. The thought process is that the dive into the water at the beginning of a swimming contest incites an adrenergic surge – that is a rapid

The exercise stress test could be regarded as an important part of screening for cardiac abnormalities. My personal opinion – in young people in whom the commonest cause of sudden death is from the cardiomyopathies or the ion channel diseases, is that an ECG and an echocardiogram alone is enough. However, there are lots of people

CPR stands for cardio pulmonary resuscitation and there are two forms of CPR. There's the basic CPR and there's the advanced CPR. Basic CPR involves cardiac massage and providing artificial breaths to someone whose heart has stopped. I believe that every British citizen should be trained in basic CPR – basic CPR can save lives. Basic

The ECG is very good at picking up electrical faults of the heart but the echocardiogram is a much more detailed investigation that looks at structural abnormalities of the heart. So, minor holes in the heart, minor valve problems will be missed by an ECG but will be picked up with an echocardiogram. In my experience,

Most people that play sport are evaluated with a simple ECG and a health questionnaire. However, the very elite athletes normally undergo an ECG and an echocardiogram. To be quite honest, ECG alone is inferior to an ECG and a cardiac ultrasound. The ECG alone will exclude important electrical faults of the heart but will miss

An ICD stands for an internal cardioverter defibrillator. This is a device that is implanted into the body under local anaesthetic . The patient usually comes in as a day case to have the procedure done and the device lives just under the left collar bone. We make a 5cm incision under the left collar bone

If I had my way, all schools should be equipped with a defibrillator. Although sudden death in young people is rare, it does occur and when it does occur, it destroys lives and costs many, many life years. The terminal heart rhythm disturbance in individuals who die is ventricular fibrillation. There is only one treatment for

Symptoms that an individual perceives are obviously important – they may be the first clue to someone harbouring a potentially serious condition. There are several symptoms that a young individual needs to be aware of that would forewarn them that there may be a cardiac problem and these include chest pain, central chest pain described as

SADS stands for Sudden Arrhythmic Death and this is part of sudden cardiac death. However, SADS is defined as a sudden death whereby subsequent post mortem analysis and a toxicology screen fails to identify any obvious cause. In our experience, almost all of these conditions are due to an electrical fault that cannot be picked up