Why the study?
Triathlon carries a risk of sudden cardiac death, mostly due to coronary artery disease that often lacks warning signs during workouts.
This case highlights the risk of sudden cardiac death due to acute myocardial infarction in adult endurance athletes and underscores the critical importance of immediate bystander CPR.
Triathlon has a risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) for athletes. Most SCDs during endurance sports in adult athletes are due to coronary artery disease but often lack signs during working out. Here, we report the acute myocardial infarction subsequent to the plaque rapture while running, the last part of a triathlon. A 44-year-old Asian athlete hardly worked out for the triathlon. An annual medical checkup did not reveal any abnormalities. He experienced ventricular fibrillation while running, the last part of a triathlon. The other athletes provided immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Coronary artery angiography revealed acute myocardial infarction in the left anterior descending artery. Stenting was performed. He was discharged without any neurological complications on the 14th day of hospitalization. Athletes should be aware of the risk of SCD during endurance sports and educate themselves to provide basic life support when they encounter other athlete suffering from sudden cardiac attacks.
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Yamaguchi et al. (2022) studied this question.
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