Ján Kmec, Alexander Kiško, Miroslav Slanina, Jozef Staško
The sudden death of an athlete is a personal tragedy with great impact on the lay and medical communities. Total incidence of sudden death of an athlete is relatively low with striking male predominance. In the athletes over 35 years of age is early atherosclerotic coronary artery disease the most common cause of fatal events; in younger athletes a broad spectrum of cardiovascular causes of sudden death including congenital and inherited disorders has been reported. Prominent cause is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (USA), arrhythmogenic RV cardiomyopathy (Italy) and congenital coronary artery anomaly. Physical exercise can be a precipitating factor for sudden cardiac death in those individuals who have an underlying cardiac abnormality. Up to 80 % of sudden cardiac death in athletes occur during or immediately after vigorous exercise. European recommendations in prevention of sport – related to sudden cardiac death recommend protocol including history, physical examination and 12-lead ECG.