Any one know about athlete's Heart?

[jimmy128]

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Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, HCM or HOCM, is a disease of the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) in which a portion of the myocardium is hypertrophied (thickened) without any obvious cause.[1][2][3][4][5][6] It is perhaps most famous as a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.[7] The occurrence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a significant cause of sudden unexpected cardiac death in any age group and as a cause of disabling cardiac symptoms.

A cardiomyopathy is a primary disease that affects the muscle of the heart. With hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the sarcomeres (contractile elements) in the heart replicate causing heart muscle cells to increase in size and so the heart muscle to thicken. In addition, the normal alignment of muscle cells is disrupted, a phenomenon known as myocardial disarray. HCM also causes disruptions of the electrical functions of the heart. HCM is most commonly due to a mutation in one of 9 sarcomeric genes that results in a mutated protein in the sarcomere, the primary component of the myocyte (the muscle cell of the heart).


a friend of mine has this.. they say only .5% of the world's population has this disease..

im wondering if anyone knows a doctor who can help him out.. thanx

[tripwire]

Three major areas of Sports, Baseball, Basketball and American Football.

Rumored that using a potent steroid use will cause the coronary artery to expand thus a portion of myocardium thickened from the normal size.