Calls for mass screening after death of young player
Ken Byrne, a 25-year-old from Cuffsgrange in Kilkenny, collapsed and died during a cup final match on Saturday.
He is one of four young athletes known to have died suddenly this year, following Tyrone GAA player Cormac McAnallen, who died after a virus attacked his heart, Irish Under-19 rugby star John McCall, who suffered cardiac arrest playing in South Africa, and an unidentified man in his early 20s who died some months ago while playing soccer.
Many health professionals believe Electrocardiograph (ECG) screening of young athletes should be introduced. The mother of 24-year-old Mr McAnallen has given her qualified support, saying it would be a good idea.
However, many within the major sports organisations, including the GAA, believe general screening of players would prove extremely difficult and is unrealistic.
Young athletes in the United States are routinely given ECG screens and doctors working in the field here believe it is possible, particularly at schools level.
Mr Byrne, who didn’t drink or smoke and was the leading scorer for his team River Rangers, collapsed early in the second-half of the Kilkenny League cup final on Saturday.
Efforts were made to revive him but he was pronounced dead at Kilkenny’s St Luke’s General Hospital. His twin brother Dave was playing on the same team.
One cardiac specialist believes a mass screening for children involved in competitive school sports could be introduced.
Dr David Keane, of St James’s Hospital in Dublin has said an ECG can pick up heart diseases in some cases. They are cheap, easy to do, non-invasive, can alert an individual to potentially fatal disorders and can show problems with the heart muscles and valves.
The cost of an ECG at a cardiac clinic can cost 80 but a mass screening programme could be performed more cost effectively, said Dr Keane.
There is a lack of research into the sudden deaths of otherwise fit young athletes.
US research suggests there are four deaths per million exercisers.
