Tag: Myocarditis

Post-COVID myocarditis screening in athletes is proving ineffective

A study shows that the method screening for myocarditis – the illness that sidelined Keyontae Johnson – can be improved dramatically.

The dramatic and terrible cardiac incident that befell Gators basketball star Keyontae Johnson was inescapable for the rest of the season. The long shadow it cast forced the team to consider throwing in the towel altogether on the season. Even after they decided to resume team activities, it was felt in lineup and rotation choices and seemed to be the first and foremost thing on the minds of TV personalities discussing Florida basketball.

The cause of all that trauma? Myocarditis – a potentially lethal form of heart inflammation that leads to improper pumping of the blood. Though many people had never heard of myocarditis a year ago, the ailment received a lot of public attention after Johnson and Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez both experienced acute, life-threatening symptoms. Though not always as severe as in those two cases, myocarditis is no joke.

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One way a person can wind up in a battle with this illness is by contracting COVID-19. The full range of long-haul symptoms after surviving an episode with the virus that shut down the globe are not completely understood, but a link between the coronavirus and myocarditis has been established. In Rodriguez’ case in particular appears to have been the direct cause of his cardiac trouble.

However, a recent study on Big Ten athletes who, at one time, tested positive for COVID-19 indicates that standard methods of screening for myocarditis could be missing as many as 85% of cases. Here’s what the Daily Mail UK reported on the study’s findings:

Researchers from 13 schools in the Big Ten athletic conference – led by Ohio State University – performed Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) on 1,597 student athletes that tested positive for coronavirus.

Screenings determined that 37 athletes had the inflammation, known as myocarditis, with specifically nine student-athletes reporting clinical myocarditis and 28 with subclinical myocarditis. With standard testing based on only cardiac symptoms, only five of the cases would have been detected, meaning using CMR detected nearly eight-fold more cases.

All 28 student-athletes with subclinical myocarditis did not exhibit any symptoms beforehand, and would not have been screened for the condition in normal circumstances. Performing this kind of testing on student athletes is especially important, according to researchers, since the condition is the leading cause of sudden death in athletes.

Clearly, if the results of this study are to be believed, it is incredibly important that the CMR screening described in the study is carried out on all college athletes who suffered from the coronavirus. Johnson got lucky. He recovered to the point that he’s considering playing basketball competitively again. Others are not so lucky.

Only with early detection and diagnosis can terrifying cases like those of Johnson and Rodriguez be avoided. Now that it’s been made clear how to protect athletes from the dangers of undetected myocarditis, the NCAA absolutely must ensure that proper CMR screening is available to any student-athlete who was exposed to the virus.

This isn’t a question of politics. It’s not an exercise in assigning blame to anyone. The NCAA can save lives, and it’s the only right thing to do.

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Co-author of Myocarditis study says results were misconstrued, shouldn’t be reason to not play football

One of the Ohio State co-authors of the study on myocarditis and COVID-19 says data was misconstrued and that it’s safe to play football.

One of the main reasons the Big Ten decided to postpone the fall football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic was emerging evidence that it led to a heart condition called myocarditis in some cases. In case you’re just now getting up to speed on that health complication (we can’t blame you), it is an inflammation of the heart some viruses can cause that may lead to complications, including death. It’s the same thing that the late head coach of Northwestern, Randy Walker, passed away with years ago.

Undetected, it can strike what appears to be an otherwise healthy individual, especially in the midst of strenuous exercise. American football conditioning and gameplay would fit that bill.

However, one of the co-authors of that study, Ohio State doctor Curt Daniels, now says the results were misinterpreted and misconstrued. In fact, Daniels believes the information should be used for a safe return to play as opposed to a reason to shut things down. He took some time to speak with Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch to expound further.

“I think we have a safe way to return to play,” Daniels told the Dispatch. “I hope that we will find a way to do so.”

Wait. What?

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Even more so, Daniels was perplexed that the positive cases that were found using cardiac magnetic resonance (CRMs), as opposed to the more traditional means of EKGs and echocardiograms were focused on more than the ability to monitor the condition more effectively.

″‘My gosh, they found myocarditis, there’s no way we can play,’ ” Daniels said of the general reaction. “They’re putting it out there saying it’s not safe to play. They’re not reading the article. Or if they’re reading it, they’re just putting their own spin on it, like, ‘It’s not safe.’

“It’s actually the opposite. We’re saying we actually found this, but we know a path now to say it’s safe to go back as opposed to having this uncomfortable feeling of not knowing anything” about the actual risk.

Daniels also expressed frustration over a New York Times article sounding the alarm bell for something that he felt was positive news. He also cited the low statistical numbers that should have been taken with a grain of salt.

“There’s obviously an angle that somebody’s trying to take, not just based on the data, but trying to infer different pieces of information from what’s out there,” Daniels said. “And clearly, people have very strong opinions. I mean, this is a very important topic. It’s a big topic, and there’s very strong opinions, but they’re all opinions.”

This is all just crazy when you think about it. There have been so many decisions made based on data that is either incomplete, emerging, or taken the wrong way that it begs the question of who is making decisions in the ivory tower of the Big Ten.

I mean, in this case, the two doctors that published the study weren’t hanging out on the West Coast or somewhere in the Northeast, but right in the freakin’ footprint of the Big Ten, at a member institution nonetheless.

It appears the other co-author, Dr. James Borchers, is now on-board with the medical subcommittee to help transition (if possible) to a safe return to play, but where was he or Daniels when this data was being interpreted that was reportedly so key to making the call to shelve the season?

This situation only adds to the mountain of questions that are being asked, and for reasons that are hard to argue with. Maybe there’s more to it that we just don’t know about, but the silence from the Big Ten doesn’t help one bit.

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Greg Byrne reveals no Alabama players diagnosed with myocarditis

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne spoke to the media on Thursday and revealed some good news about the Crimson Tide’s football program.

Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne held a Zoom call with the media on Thursday afternoon, and in that meeting, multiple things were revealed. One of the most important details of the call, however, surrounded myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart due to COVID-19 and other viruses.

Byrne made it known that, at this time, none of the Crimson Tide players have been diagnosed with myocarditis, which is fantastic news considering that is what ultimately caused the Big Ten and Pac-12 to shut down fall sports — or at least, that was the main reason given.

Columnist and beat writer Cecil Hurt with The Tuscaloosa News and TideSports.com tweeted out the information from Byrne:

This does not mean that Alabama’s football program, or the SEC for that matter, is out of the clear. It is, however, a good sign that there are not any players currently dealing with the issue.

It will be interesting to see if other programs who are still planning to play have similar results.

Stay tuned for more updates from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire network!

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COVID-19 heart issue concerning to Ravens’ head physician

Myocarditis — one of the long-term side effects of COVID-19 — is a growing concern according to Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker.

The medical community has been working hard to study COVID-19 and those that have become infected to determine what happens. While the immediate effects are well documented and scary enough, the long-term health risks are just being learned now and are even more troubling.

One such side effect of the virus is myocarditis — an inflammation that weakens the heart and can lead to further medical issues including heart failure. For Baltimore Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker, the risk of a player, coach, or staff member not only coming down with COVID-19 but getting myocarditis from it are concerning.

“It’s a concern,” Tucker said, per Aaron Kasinitz of Penn Live. “Myocarditis is one of the rare causes of sudden cardiac arrest in our athletes and it is usually caused by a virus that causes inflammation in the heart. It is very rare, fortunately, but it can happen and it can happen theoretically with any virus, but certain viruses tend to make it more likely. Unfortunately, COVID has proven early on to be a virus that tends to involve the heart.”

As has been proven with a bunch of professional athletes of all sports coming down with the virus, no one is immune to COVID-19. And as we’ve seen with Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, even those that are at the top of the population in physical fitness can still get myocarditis from it.

While Tucker admitted “the risk is low” of a player developing the complication, he also cautioned against drawing too many conclusions over just how small a percentage that truly is.

“But how low is a little bit premature to say because we just don’t have the data,” Tucker said. “This hasn’t been going on that long.”

The NFL and NFLPA had originally agreed to daily COVID-19 testing at the start of training camp, with a reduction coming if positive tests were below 5%. Though the NFL said they’ve seen a lower than 1% rate of infection among the Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel thus far, the league told teams daily testing would continue “until further notice,” according to a memo acquired by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

The NFL has previously and repeatedly acknowledged the current protocols are liable to change as further information about the virus becomes available. With myocarditis and other long-term effects becoming a growing concern, changes could be on the horizon with the NFL not only wanting the regular season to start on time but a full 16-game schedule to happen.

“Do you retest players at four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks?” Tucker asked. “Those are not part of the protocol right now. But as our knowledge base grows over time, it could change.”

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COVID-19 heart issue concerning to Ravens’ head physician

Myocarditis — one of the long-term side effects of COVID-19 — is a growing concern according to Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker.

The medical community has been working hard to study COVID-19 and those that have become infected to determine what happens. While the immediate effects are well documented and scary enough, the long-term health risks are just being learned now and are even more troubling.

One such side effect of the virus is myocarditis — an inflammation that weakens the heart and can lead to further medical issues including heart failure. For Baltimore Ravens head physician Dr. Andrew Tucker, the risk of a player, coach, or staff member not only coming down with COVID-19 but getting myocarditis from it are concerning.

“It’s a concern,” Tucker said, per Aaron Kasinitz of Penn Live. “Myocarditis is one of the rare causes of sudden cardiac arrest in our athletes and it is usually caused by a virus that causes inflammation in the heart. It is very rare, fortunately, but it can happen and it can happen theoretically with any virus, but certain viruses tend to make it more likely. Unfortunately, COVID has proven early on to be a virus that tends to involve the heart.”

As has been proven with a bunch of professional athletes of all sports coming down with the virus, no one is immune to COVID-19. And as we’ve seen with Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, even those that are at the top of the population in physical fitness can still get myocarditis from it.

While Tucker admitted “the risk is low” of a player developing the complication, he also cautioned against drawing too many conclusions over just how small a percentage that truly is.

“But how low is a little bit premature to say because we just don’t have the data,” Tucker said. “This hasn’t been going on that long.”

The NFL and NFLPA had originally agreed to daily COVID-19 testing at the start of training camp, with a reduction coming if positive tests were below 5%. Though the NFL said they’ve seen a lower than 1% rate of infection among the Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel thus far, the league told teams daily testing would continue “until further notice,” according to a memo acquired by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

The NFL has previously and repeatedly acknowledged the current protocols are liable to change as further information about the virus becomes available. With myocarditis and other long-term effects becoming a growing concern, changes could be on the horizon with the NFL not only wanting the regular season to start on time but a full 16-game schedule to happen.

“Do you retest players at four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks?” Tucker asked. “Those are not part of the protocol right now. But as our knowledge base grows over time, it could change.”

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