title: [Causes of sudden cardiac death in athletes].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sudden cardiac death in athletes is a growing problem, despite the huge existing knowledge in medicine and sports.
  In response to vigorous physical activity, the body undergoes profound morphologic and functional changes. These changes are usually healthy, but sometimes may gravitate to some cardiac diseases. But still, most saudden cardiac deaths are due to previous unknown diseases.
  The most common cause of sudden cardiac death in athletes is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Other reasons are congenital coronary artery anomalies, nivocarditis, dilatative cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy of the right ventricle, sarcoidosis, mitral valve prolapse, aortic valve stenosis, atherosclerosis, long QT syndrome, and blunt impact to the chest.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bearing in mind the above mentioned, more frequent physical examinations of athletes are recommended.
authors.affiliation: Medicinski fakultet, Beograd, Institut za fiziologiju. dejana01@eunet.yu
authors.forename: Dejana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Popović
authors.forename: Miodrag C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ostojić
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Popović
authors.forename: Stanimir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stojiljković
authors.forename: Ljiljana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sćepanović
mesh_terms: D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D013177:Sports; D013178:Sports Medicine