Teenage footballer’s heart attack brings a grey area into focus

Mumbai: The case of a 17-year-old footballer suffering a massive heart attack has puzzled doctors at Nanavati Hospital.

The teenager, say the doctors, had a 100% blockage in the main artery, but surprisingly had no underlying ailment like hypertension, diabetes, obesity, or a family history of cardiac ailments. The doctors also probed a possible link to drug use, but the boy has no history of that too. He is a teetotaller and a non-smoker.

A resident of Vile Parle, the teenager was taken to the hospital’s casualty department with chest discomfort, sweating, vomiting, and breathlessness on October 17 soon after a game.

Though a heart attack is rare in a teenager, Dr. Harshad Limaye, senior consultant, internal medicine, took him for an ECG.

“It turned out that his heart’s main artery or the left anterior descending artery had 100% blockage. His blood pressure had fallen drastically and he was into a cardiogenic shock,” said interventional cardiologist Dr. Salil Shirodkar from Nanavati hospital. The patient had to be immediately put on ventilator.

Dr. Shirodkar said that they avoided putting a stent as the patient is too young. “The clot was sucked out with the use of a thrombosuction cathether,” explained Dr. Shirodkar. The patient spent nearly 10 days in the hospital of which he was on ventilator for five days. Over the past few weeks, the patient has recovered better. He was brought in with a heart pumping rate of merely 20%. It has improved to about 40%. The normal rate is 60%. “We are hopeful that his recovery will be okay and gradually he can go back to playing,” said Dr. Shirodkar. The complete recovery will take about six months. “What is surprising that he is not a person who has a sedentary lifestyle. He is active and has no history that predisposes him to a cardiac risk,” he said.

The boy’s father said that he had complained of discomfort a month ago too, but he had some antacids that time and he felt okay.

Though not unheard of, heart attacks in teenagers are rare. Experts say in most cases the patient outcome can be hampered as cardiac ailment is rarely suspected.

A 2007 study in the Journal Of Paediatrics on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in adolescents had concluded: “AMI is extremely rare in adolescents. Patient characteristics associated with AMI include substance abuse, tobacco use, and male sex. The hospital survival for AMI in adolescents is excellent, and the need for catheter or surgical coronary artery intervention is uncommon.”