Many young athletes do not go for physical body examination regularly. For this reason, the media usually report at least one teenage sportsperson death after collapsing in the field due to heart complications. Young athletes should not ignore the significance of health screenings and taking physical examinations. In the scenario at hand, the 16-year-old male athlete had no family history for cardiovascular problems. The clinician examined the patient who was sitting on the table slightly recumbent. The specialist diagnosed a grade 2/6 systolic murmur that was loud at the heart’s apex. Although the patient did not have neuromuscular issues, he ended up collapsing and dying in the field.
When it comes to diagnosing cardiovascular alterations, the examiner should use a stethoscope and grade the murmurs using a scale. For example, the young patient in the scenario at hand had a grade II/VI systolic murmur. His diagnosis revealed that he was likely having mitral regurgitation, which might be caused by dilated cardiomyopathy (Huether & McCance, 2017). In particular, mitral regurgitation causes the blood to return to the heart. Besides, the heart has valves that prevent the blood from flowing back when it leaves. In the scenario at hand, there was a possibility that the blood was flowing from the left ventricle to left atrium. In other words, one of the valves allowed the blood to go back to the heart, which caused the II/VI systolic murmur. The blood flows in one direction when the valves open and closes during heartbeats.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
After the physical examiner diagnosed the young athlete with a grade II/VI systolic murmur, the specialist should not have ignored it. Besides, many cardiovascular alterations do not have underlying symptoms. That is the reason why physicians should send any patient diagnosed with a systolic murmur to the respective health professional for more analysis (McPhee & Hammer, 2010). Despite the neuromuscular tests being positive, the examiner would not have cleared the patient. Echocardiogram and electrocardiogram are the two primary tests that can confirm that one is suffering from mitral regurgitation (Mayo Clinic, 2019). Cardiologists can treat systolic murmur depending on its grade. In most cases, for mild cases, these specialists monitor the patient and can manage the condition by using blood thinners, hypertension medications, and diuretics. Furthermore, surgery can be done if the mitral regurgitation is chronic.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) established various conditions that doctors should consider when treating mitral regurgitation. Some of them include the type, patient comorbidities, hemodynamic consequences, and severity (Hanson, 2018). In reality, the physician’s diagnosis was correct. The only thing the specialist did not do right was by allowing the young athlete to continue with sporting activities without being concerned about the cause of mitral regurgitation (Averna & Stroes, 2017). Although it was not chronic, the cause might have been severe based on the fact that the person collapsed and died on the field. If the examiner referred the athlete to a cardiologist, maybe the source of systolic murmur would have been identified and treated in advance. Among all the other things, it would be unprofessional for any doctor to ignore cardiovascular alterations knowing that the condition does not have any underlying symptoms.
To sum up, mitral regurgitation should not be taken for granted. In the case at hand, the physical examiner diagnosed a grade II/VI systolic murmur and did not do anything for the safety of the young athlete. Although there were no other symptoms that would have shown the seriousness of the health condition, it would have been good if the physician sent the athlete to a cardiologist. The lack of symptoms of cardiovascular alterations makes it challenging to manage, and that is the reason why many athletes collapse and die without unidentifiable heart problems.
References
Averna, M., & Stroes, E. (2017). How to assess and manage cardiovascular risk associated with lipid alterations beyond LDL. Atherosclerosis Supplements, 26, 16-24.
Hanson, I. (2018). Mitral regurgitation treatment and management. Medscape. Retrieved from https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/155618-treatment.
Huether, S. E., & McCance, K. L. (2017). Understanding pathophysiology (6th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
Mayo Clinic (2019). Mitral valve regurgitation. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mitral-valve-regurgitation/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20350183.
McPhee, S. J., & Hammer, G. D. (2010). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine . New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Medical.
