Heart Screen Appointments Available for
Middle
School and High School Students
in Study of Sudden Cardiac Death in Young
People
Screenings being offered at no cost to parents
| NOTE: Thanks to the many parents who have scheduled their children
for screenings during Spring Break week (March 11-15), all available
appointments have been filled. Beginning March 18, the Mobile Imaging Unit
will return to the Houston Independent School District to screen students on
HISD campuses. However, free appointments will be available for any Houston
area high school and middle school students during the upcoming summer
vacation period. Watch for details as they become available.
|
HOUSTON, TEXAS (March 7, 2013) - Doctors and researchers at
the Texas Heart Institute (THI) at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (SLEH) have
announced that free heart screening appointments are open in the Texas Medical
Center during the spring break week (March 11-15) to area middle school and
high school students as part of a
research program into certain difficult-to-detect, congenital heart
abnormalities that are thought to predispose young people to Sudden Cardiac
Death (SCD).
Tragic cases of SCD recurrently grab headlines,
especially when it strikes young athletes during sports competitions or
training. Young people stricken by SCD often have no warning or previous
symptoms.
"Too
often, we hear about a student/athlete who dies suddenly, without any warning in
the middle of a game or at a team practice," said Dr. James T. Willerson, THI
President and Medical Director. "It's a problem with tragic consequences, and
we want to do more to address it. Our methods for detection are the most
accurate known."
Researchers at THI's Center for
Coronary Artery Anomalies use
simple but comprehensive and accurate techniques to identify the carriers of
potentially dangerous predisposing causes. This includes:
1. a brief history
(personal and of the family)
2. an electrocardiogram (ECG) and
3. a
simplified screening program of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Such study is
being carried out on middle- and high-school-aged students whose parents agree
to have their child screened. The testing process is completed in about 45
minutes. Parents are notified of the confidential results of their child's
screening.
The MRI machine uses magnetic fields to take
quite accurate "pictures" of the heart and its blood vessels. The ECG machine
makes a paper tracing that shows the heart electrical activity. Each of the tests
is "non-invasive" and does not use any needles or medication.
The
MRI equipment, supplied by Philips Healthcare, has been fitted to a specially
constructed mobile imaging unit. The program is underwritten by Rich and
Nancy Kinder and the Kinder Foundation and Cameron.
For an appointment, parents can contact the
Center for Coronary Artery Anomalies at the Texas Heart Institute at 713-218-2112
or email ccaa@texasheart.org.
For media inquiries please contact:
Director of Public Affairs
Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
Frank Michel ♦ 832-355-9510 ♦ fmichel@heart.thi.tmc.edu
For THI and St. Luke's media profiles, see Public Affairs.
