“Even in the case of very controlled athletes, the presence of some pathological conditions which escape routine exams”. Alfredo Marchese, interventional cardiologist and president-elect of the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology, told AGI, commenting on what happened in the Fiorentina-Inter match to the footballer Edoardo Bove, who suffered an illness in field.
“Without prejudice that it will be up to colleagues to identify the exact cause of the illness – explains Marchese – it should be underlined that from a cardiac point of view there are various conditions that are not detected even by an electrocardiogram under stressand which in certain cases manifest themselves only in the acute moment of a crisis. I am referring to problems from both an electrical and anatomical point of view. For the former, think of Brugada syndrome which cannot always be recognized from an electrocardiographic point of view and which causes alterations in the heartbeat which can evolve into ventricular arrhythmia; or even to malignant electrical events that derive from cellular alterations not visible on the common electrocardiogram”.
“At the moment there is a great deal of work by electrophysiological colleagues to try to identify specific patterns of the traces – he adds – to at least make an initial risk assessment of these conditions. They should not be forgotten electrolyte disorders, acquired or congenital, which are the first cause for attention in subjects at risk of dehydration.”
The expert concludes: “As far as the anatomical aspect is concerned, there are some coronary anomalies which do not necessarily manifest themselves during the first phases of sporting activity and which in particular conditions of neurovegetative stress can emerge, leading in rare cases to death. cardiac”.