Nationwide Registry For Athletes With ICD’s

If you have a heart-zapping defibrillator implanted in your chest, you’re not supposed to compete in sports any more intense than bowling or golf. Lots of patients ignore those guidelines, trying everything from school basketball teams and community tennis leagues to running marathons and rock climbing — although no one knows if the life-saving implants work as well under that kind of stress.

Many of these athletes will now take part in a nationwide registry to see once and for all if this is a validated risk. Do the athletes need more “shocks” to the heart than other persons that would watch from the sidelines? Can the implanted defibrillators withstand a direct hit to the chest? This registry will hopefully be able to give us more answers.

With more and more ICD’s being used to combat fatal heart beats in younger patients, I think that a registry is a welcome idea. In my opinion, this is pertinent information that needs to be examined further! And thank goodness because half of the research and abstracts that I read this morning were, how to say this nicely… pointless!

via Associated Press, SFGate.com