MN Daily: Tinsley died naturally of an enlarged heart

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BleedGopher

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MN Daily just tweeted this:

"@mndailynews Former Gophers player Gary Tinsley, who died April 6, died naturally of an enlarged heart, according to medical results"

Godspeed to the Tinsley family and all of his friends and teammates.
 



Does any part of the players physicals involve an EKG or chest x ray?

Godspeed to the Tinsley family.
 

gopher_alum_2005 said:
Does any part of the players physicals involve an EKG or chest x ray?
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Probably. Neither is accurate enough to detect this sort of anomaly in a 22 year old. Generally, a patient with an enlarged heart has symptoms, and the medicos are looking for it.
 


On the drive to work this morning, "The Story" by Brandi Carlile was on the radio. I think it will always remind me of that GT tribute video.
 

I wish the Medical Examiner would have been more precise. An enlarged heart, is a symptom caused by an underlying problem, sometimes congenital. Occasionally it shows no symptoms especially in the young. I had a congenital heart condition that didn't show symptoms until I was in my 40's, it nearly killed me, when it finally showed. A catheter ablation fixed it and I'm now fine. It seems like every year we see one or two athletes die of undiagnosed congenital conditions it's really unfortunate but it happens.
 

nsmike said:
I wish the Medical Examiner would have been more precise. An enlarged heart, is a symptom caused by an underlying problem, sometimes congenital. Occasionally it shows no symptoms especially in the young. I had a congenital heart condition that didn't show symptoms until I was in my 40's, it nearly killed me, when it finally showed. A catheter ablation fixed it and I'm now fine. It seems like every year we see one or two athletes die of undiagnosed congenital conditions it's really unfortunate but it happens.
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It's really none of our business (I'm being nice). Might be some privacy issues involved...
 




station19 said:
There also might be more details released later.
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I would think that is most likely because the underlying condition is still being investigated. To hiwayman; Cause of death is a matter of public record, it is entirely possible the underlying condition will never be determined, but it would then read, enlarged heart due to an udetermined underlying condition.
 

gopher_alum_2005 said:
Does any part of the players physicals involve an EKG or chest x ray?
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Yes, I believe the Gopher medical staff conducts comprehensive physicals on all players. Remember, it was a physical performed by Gopher team doctors that uncovered Sam Maresh's heart condition.
 

I recall an segment on the news or ESPN that said that because the condition is so rare, tests are rarely done for it. I wonder if that will change if the number of people dying from this continues to rise, maybe it's not on the rise it's just reported more.

While a physical is done every year, I doubt it includes anything beyond the standard checks.
 

gopher_alum_2005 said:
Does any part of the players physicals involve an EKG or chest x ray?
Click to expand...

In general, ECG and chest x ray are not recommended for all preparticipation physicials in HS/college athletes in the US. (The European Society of Cardiology does recommend screening ECG for all young athlete physicals, and some studies suggest it has decreased the rate of sudden death in athletes). I do suspect that major college programs in the US, though, probably do ECGs on all their athletes anyway.

In brief, the main conditions we look for on screening ECG are:

-Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
-Long QT syndrome
-Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Regarding Tinsley, "enlarged heart" is a term with very little clinical meaning. It could mean dilated cardiomyopathy (enlargement of the left ventricular chamber), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (pathologic thickening of the heart muscle itself) or some other less common conditions. HCM is usually very apparent on ECG, but other forms of enlarged heart are not as easily picked up by ECG.

"Athlete's heart" is another form of "enlarged heart" which is benign and can cause chamber enlargement and/or heart muscle thickening from training effect, often seen in elite athletes like Tinsley. The size and mass of the heart are more than "normal," but it does not lead to sudden death. It is very possible that Tinsley had athlete's heart, but there must have been something else abnormal that led teh ME to think it was more than athlete's heart.

You're right, it is none of the public's business what the actual diagnosis was, but it could be important for his family members since several of the above mentioned conditions are hereditary. God's peace to him and his family.
 



My other alma mater, Oregon State, also had a player pass away shortly after the season ended while playing basketball at the campus rec. center. A redshirt freshman. A very sad turn of events. I had a very close HS friend die in the same manner while running in a cross country meet his freshman year at USD.
 

I guess you never know about some of these defects. I think of Pistol Pete Maravich. In 1988, Maravich died from what appeared to be heart failure at age 40. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel which supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.

Now days, he might have had a heart or artery transplant as a youth and would have never played basketball. One of the great players of all time may have never existed. Would it have been worth it for him? Hard to say.
 

highwayman said:
I guess you never know about some of these defects. I think of Pistol Pete Maravich. In 1988, Maravich died from what appeared to be heart failure at age 40. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a rare congenital defect; he had been born with a missing left coronary artery, a vessel which supplies blood to the muscle fibers of the heart. His right coronary artery was grossly enlarged and had been compensating for the defect.

Now days, he might have had a heart or artery transplant as a youth and would have never played basketball. One of the great players of all time may have never existed. Would it have been worth it for him? Hard to say.
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Anomalous coronary arteries would not be picked up on any standard screening test (ECG or chest X ray) and can be hard to find on an echocardiogram unless there had already been complications/heart damage related to it. You would have to do an MRI, CT or angiogram to find it, and those (expensive and/or invasive) tests would not be done unless there were warning signs like chest pain, syncope or family history.

If it is surgically corrected before any heart damage occurs, athletes can be cleared to participate.
 

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