News • Children's cardiology
Monitoring the hearts of the sports stars of the future
Professionals in the field of children’s cardiology will hold their world congress in FCB’s Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain from the 16th to the 21st of July 2017. As part of the congress and for the first time, a special symposium will unite leading experts in the field of sports cardiology to discuss the heart health of the sports stars of the future.
The number of children training at elite athletic youth academies has grown significantly over the last decade and advances in training, sports science and coaching strategies have transformed sports from leisure time play into a professional activity for talented children and adolescents. The recent success of such systematic early age talent development in disciplines such as football has gained much media attention. While this is overall a positive development and has sparked interest in childhood activity and sports, sports governing bodies such as the International Olympic committee have called for more diligence to monitor the physiological development and health of these talented young athletes through their formative years of childhood and adolescence.
Monitoring the heart of the rising stars is of particular importance, as despite the well-documented benefits of regular physical activity in promoting cardiovascular health, unsuspected cardiovascular disease represents the most common cause of sudden death in competitive youth athletes. While significant research progress has been made over the last decade in the adult athlete population to prevent exercise related sudden cardiac death, less is known about the effects of elite training on the developing heart of childhood athletes.
The symposium will feature experts from world leading youth sports academies such as FC Barcelona, Manchester United FC and Aspire Academy Doha and is supported by Toshiba Medical – a member of the Canon Group – as part of Toshiba Medical’s SportsMed program. This program sees Toshiba Medical partner with elite clubs such as Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid to advance imaging and diagnostic techniques in elite athletes, to benefit the health of all.
This Scientific programme is endorsed by the European Association of Preventive Cardiology, a registered branch of the European Society of Cardiology and the World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS). The WCPCCS organizers placed special emphasis on this world’s first sport conference in children by dedicating a whole day session to it. The leading sport experts in children have joined their efforts to bring together world class leaders in their fields to deliver ground breaking new developments on the recognition and prevention of sport related catastrophic cardiac events in childhood. The WCPCCS and organizers of this event aim to raise medical awareness of heart conditions and their early detection to avoid sport related sudden collapse and death occurring in the young. The conference has attracted massive interest from over 300 doctors and sport experts all around the world.
Source: Toshiba Medical Systems Europe B.V.
19.07.2017
