Heart disease: 'Sudden cardiac death' cause is found
The release of excess calcium into certain heart channels has been identified as the cause of unexpected and often inexplicable fatal heart attacks in otherwise young and healthy people, according to researchers.
The condition known as 'sudden cardiac death' has baffled doctors for years as professional athletes and amateur sportspeople have suffered massive heart attacks both during exercise and at rest.
Now a team of scientists from the Wales Heart Research Institute (WHRI), based at Cardiff University, have claimed not only to have identified the direct cause of death, but also the existence of a hereditary link to the risk of dying from the syndrome.
The researchers focused on the calcium release channel in the heart and found that genetic mutations can impede the channel's ability to work properly.
In some cases the channel cannot close at all, which means too much calcium is released into the heart.
Scientists believe this leads to an irregular heart rhythm and, in the worst case scenario, ends in cardiac arrest.
Research is now being conducted to find an appropriate therapy that ensures heart channels close properly as well as a means to reduce the risk of a heart attack for young people found to have the defective gene.
"This is crucial new evidence that defects in the channel structure may cause these dangerous abnormalities in cardiac calcium release," said Dr Christopher George, lead researcher of the study at the WHRI.
"Although there is a long way to go, this finding gives us vital clues that the precise stabilisation of these channels may be the best way to prevent this catastrophic disease in people carrying the faulty gene."
"We hope this research will lead to a way of preventing the problem in susceptible people, without stopping them from stressing their hearts through exercise," said Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation.
Sudden cardiac death gained worldwide attention in 2003 when Cameroon international footballer Marc-Vivien Foe, a former Manchester City player, dropped dead on the pitch from the condition before a television audience of millions.
The death of the fit and healthy 28-year-old was greeted with shock and disbelief by the footballing world. Doctors diagnosed sudden cardiac death within hours of his death.
