Exercise Related Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Adults- A Patient Report

Exercise-related sudden cardiac death (SCD) is defined by symptoms that arise within 1 hour of participation in an athletic event. The major mechanisms involved in exercise-related SCD are related to hemodynamic and electrophysiological changes caused by exercise in the susceptible individual. Fatal ventricular arrhythmia is the most common mechanism of death. In young adults (＜35 years old), the majority of SCDs are caused by defined and hereditary cardiovascular disorders. Among other etiologies, hypertrophy cardiomyopathy and coronary artery anomalies are the most common. But different ventricular tachyarrhythmias may cause syncope or cardiac arrest in patients without known heart diseases. Few exercise-related sudden cardiac deaths due to ventricular tachycardia originated from irregular muscle arrangement in left ventricle myocardium had been reported. We described a 19 years old male without history of heart disease who developed sudden cardiac death during exercise. Ventricular tachycardia was noted at that time and ECG pattern at the beginning was the same as the pattern of ”idiopathic left ventricular tachycardia” in electrophysiological study. Post mortem diagonosis revealed irregular muscle arrangement in left ventricle myocardium was the only specific. Exercise related sudden cardiac death of young adult without history of heart disease, ventricular tachycardia was always the etiology and some of which were very likely related to irregular muscle arrangement in left ventricle myocardium.