English Premiership
Heart tests for Spurs squad
2012-03-19 10:56
London - A cardiologist says he will test the Tottenham squad for potential heart defects on Monday at the request of the players who saw Bolton's Fabrice Muamba suffer a cardiac arrest and collapse in their FA Cup match.
Muamba is still fighting for his life in intensive care in a critical condition after falling suddenly during Saturday's abandoned FA Cup match at White Hart Lane.
The 23-year-old midfielder's heart only started beating on its own again when he arrived at a London hospital on Saturday night and the cause of his cardiac arrest remains publicly unknown.
"These cardiac arrests in young people are very rare, they affect about one in 50 000 people," Sports cardiologist Sanjay Sharma told Sky News television. "These conditions are exceptionally rare."
Sharma said he was already due to test "one or two players" at Tottenham on Monday, but added that now "the players have all demanded cardiac screening today."
"That involves taking a history relating to cardiac symptoms, which include chest pain during exertion or breath which is disproportionate to the amount of exercise being performed and blackouts, (and) asking about a family history because many of these conditions that can cause cardiac arrest are hereditary," he said.
"We then perform a cardiac examination and following that we do an ECG (electrocardiogram) which is an electrical tracing of the heart which looks for electric faults of the heart and a cardiac ultrasound which looks at heart muscle problems or problems with the heart values."
Meanwhile, Muamba's fiancee has been issuing pleas on Twitter for the health of the father of their son Joshua.
"Fabrice WILL!! Pull through because God is good," Muamba's fiancee, who goes by the name Shauna Muamba, tweeted on Monday. "Love u so much fmuamba keep strong we're praying for u honey ... where there is life there is hope."