An unusual number of professional and amateur soccer players have recently collapsed.
Irrespective of age, heart muscle inflammation (myocarditis) is considered a risk factor.
Berlin- The professional player Sergio Aguero from FC Barcelona will be out for at least three months. The 33-year-old was substituted with breathing problems in the game against Deportivo Alavés. He clutched his chest and was taken to a hospital. He is now being treated by a cardiologist for heart problems. At the European Championship, the player Christian Eriksen collapsed in front of the cameras. Diagnosis: cardiac arrest. Ericsen survived. The two professionals are just two examples of many footballers who are struggling with heart problems, some of which are life-threatening.
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DFB doctor Tim Meyer said after Eriksen's collapse: "Even the best screening examination is not perfect, so things like this can still happen. That is why there is the second line of prevention and that is the presence of the emergency doctors on the sidelines.” However, this system cannot prevent all life-threatening or even fatal cases.
In the past few weeks and months, emergency situations have repeatedly arisen:
Game abandoned due to cardiac arrest of the referee in a Lauber SV game (Donauwörth district)
A 17-year-old soccer player from JSG Hoher Hagen has to be resuscitated during the game in Hannoversch Münden.
The Gifhorn amateur player Marvin Schumann has to be resuscitated after a cardiac arrest.
An assistant referee of a district league Augsburg game in Emersacker collapses with heart problems.
A district league player of the SpVgg. Oelde II must be revived by its opponent.
A player from Birati Club Münster collapses in a district league game against FC Nordkirchen II.
17-year-old soccer player Dylan Rich dies of a heart attack during a game in England .
The goalkeeping coach of SV Niederpöring suffers a heart attack after a training session.
Lucas Surek (24) from the BFC Chemie Leipzig club is out on suspicion of a heart muscle disorder .
Kingsley Coman (25) from FC Bayern Munich has to undergo heart surgery after cardiac arrhythmia .
Coach Dirk Splitsteser from SG Traktor Divitz collapses dead on the sidelines.
Rune Coghe (18) of Belgian club Eendracht Hoglede (Belgium) suffers a heart attack during a game.
At the Germany-Serbia women's World Cup qualifier in Chemnitz, an English linesman with heart problems has to be carried off the field.
Team leader Dietmar Gladow from Thalheim (Bitterfeld) suffers a fatal heart attack before a game.
The 53-year-old football coach Antonello Campus collapses dead in Sicily while training with his youth team .
Anil Usta from VfB Schwelm (Ennepetal) collapses on the pitch with heart problems .
Strasbourg FC's Dimitri Liénard collapses in a Ligue 1 game with heart problems.
ASPTT Caen's Diego Ferchaud (16) suffers cardiac arrest in a U-18 league match in Saint-Lô .
Belgian soccer player Jente Van Genechten (25) suffers a cardiac arrest in the early stages of a cup game.
The Belgian amateur soccer player Jens De Smet (27) from Maldegem suddenly suffers a heart attack during the game and dies a little later in the hospital.
A 13-year-old soccer player from the Janus Nova club in Saccolongo (Italy) collapses on the pitch with cardiac arrest.
Andrea Astolfi, the sporting director of Calcio Orsago (Italy), suffers a heart attack after returning from training. He dies at the age of 45.
Abou Ali (22) collapses with cardiac arrest during a two-league game in Denmark.
Besiktas's Fabrice N'Sakala (31) collapses unchallenged on the field and has to be taken to hospital.
According to the German Heart Foundation: "Depending on the study, there are between 0.7 and 3.0 deaths per 100,000 athletes per year." According to the experts, men are more frequently affected than women: "According to data from the German register for sudden cardiac death in Sport (Sudden Cardiac Death Register, SCD Germany), 96% of the affected athletes are men,” according to the foundation. As to the causes, it is said that sudden cardiac death during sport has “different triggers”.
Causes differ depending on the age of those affected
The causes differ depending on the age of those affected. “In people under the age of 35, diseases of the heart muscle, the heart valves, the main artery (aorta) and the coronary arteries are among the possible triggers. Changes in the genome can, for example, lead to thickening of the muscles in the left ventricle (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). Diseases, in particular of the right ventricle (arrhythmogenic (right ventricular) cardiomyopathy) can also be the cause of sudden cardiac death," says the Heart Foundation.
In people over 35, on the other hand, coronary heart disease is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death at around 80 percent. Coronary arteries narrow more and more due to deposits (plaques) of cholesterol, connective tissue and calcium. If these plaques rupture, blood clots sometimes form and the blood vessel is completely blocked.” This leads to a heart attack, which “can be associated with life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias”.
Irrespective of age, inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) is another risk factor. "It can already occur in the course of banal virus infections, even without causing symptoms," says the German Heart Foundation. And further: "However, these inflammatory changes can lead to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias."