Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Another one



Antonio Puerta
(1984-2007)
A cardiac arrest on the field, another in the locker room, and today he lost the battle....
Before him, was Feher (switzerland) in 2004:

and Foe (Cameroon) in 2003:
Update: Cause of death of these SEEMINGLY healthy atheletes is related to arrhythmias, which is an irregular heart beat, some sort of abnormal electricity in the heart, or due to an enlarged heart problem called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (not dilated cardiomyopathy-thanks abu el-Qaqish for your alarming message) which predisposes to these abnormal heart conductions.
My 2 cents:
1- These abnormal heart beats are usually missed by the general physcial exam a doctor perfoems in his clinic, even several EKGs (takhteet qalb) can be totally normal.
2- There are currently only TWO specialists in Jordan in abnonral hear conductions (arrhythmias). Many Jordanian cardiologists claim they are specilaists in these but they're lying. Having said that, some basic and common heart irregularities (like atrial fibrillation) can be treated by an internist or a cardiologist, but the more complicated ones like the ones causing death in the players above need a specilaist. Again, two in Jordan for more than six million. Cheeeeerz!

38 comments:

Blogger said...

Being Amman's Cardiologist I'd say this is really baffling to common belief.

He's a healthy young man, perfect physiques ,perfect health, yet he collapses. Is it bad medical history? Bad genes? Soccer players are overworked? Too much Mansaf and Knafeh? Booze? Stress?Team loosing?

Loosing too much fluids? Bejooz 3endu Nephritis o faga3 ma3u el Potassium level (Allah ykhali el google)

Rest in peace Antonio

Mala2e6 said...

this is so sad hareega..:(

alla yer7amo..

Hareega said...

firas.. read my update, they were not healthy, they were (seemingly healthy), it's more than dehydration. If a healthy person was quickly dehydrated he might lose consciosness oreven develop some degree of advanced but usually reversible renal failure or low blood pressure, but very rarely do they die.

mala2e6, yes it is.
and that's why i stopped playing any kind of sport three years ago !

Maher said...

jad eshe bedayeg!
ba3deeen puerta had an amazing talent!
he could dribble past anyone, if you watched when Sevillia played Barca for the europian trophy last year, you would see how he dribbled pass 3 defender..including puyol!
kaan 3omro 22 saneh! jad 7aram!

my brother told me that he and his wife were expecting a baby soon

allah yer7amo!

Anonymous said...

That's very sad..In the middle of the game, no symptoms or anything to alarm them??
Is it this condition that can be corrected sometimes either by a "pacemaker"??

Amer said...

usually they prescribe blood thinners. because arrhythmia causes blood clots. the abnormal heart beats cause one chamber of the heart to empty out while the other is still full. if blood stays in there, it forms clots. once that blood is pumped out, the clots might end up in the brain and cause "jal6a." a pacemaker is another solution.

god be with his family...

Anonymous said...

i dont know if there is you tube footage or if it is the similar condition but there is الهادي بن رخيصة
too

Hareega said...

maher... yeah his girlfriend was pregnant

noura... sometimes with an ICD (defibrillator) in patients who are at risk of his a cardiac arrest can be implanted. The problem is diagnosing the folks who have the problem.

globaroma.. it depends on the kind of arrythmia. For some like atrial fibrillation/flutter blood thinners may be very helpful in preventing a clot formation that may migrate to the brain and cause a stroke, but they might cause life-threatening bleeding so the benefit of using them should outweigh the risk. For many other arrythmias like the ones causing the death of Puerta blood thinners do not help because the arryhtmia leads to a sudden heart arrest which has nothing to do with a blood clot.

musa... thanks man for reminding us of Ben Rakheesa. He was one of my favorite players, and if i'm not mistaken he was chosen the best Arabic player by al-Watan Al-Riyadi a year before he died!
I'll try to yotube him

Anonymous said...

wow, this was heart moving :/

Anonymous said...

jad allah yer7amo.
it is awful when athletes are dying with heart problems makes it that much harder to convince our patients to exercise or do any form of cardio work.:oh:
like u said its lack of diagnosis and jordan is in trouble with only 2 docs...r u considering another specialty? ;)

This reminds me of the movie:
Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story (1992)… a basketball player died on the court during NCAA game sudden death.
I remember watching the movie during high school and always thought about it every practice and every game i played (especially with my FH.)

you should rentit.great movie..slight tearjerker.

btw kaifak? zaman 3anak?

Hareega said...

hey aftehar... where have u been? i don't think i'll rent that movie i saw enough tragedy in sports in the last world cup, but i'll remember the name of the movie. I think some of the wildcats fans will die of sudden death during this season

Khaled said...

You know some of these athletes do take drugs and stuff, but these are covered up.

Anonymous said...

XxsZ0s The best blog you have!

Anonymous said...

rXGa7a Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

Nice Article.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to author.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Hello all!

Anonymous said...

483LzJ write more, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Good job!

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Please write anything else!

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

Anonymous said...

Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Calvin, we will not have an anatomically correct snowman!

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?