Abstract des Autors

Despite the fact that myocarditis is only one of the cardiovascular diseases that may lead to sudden death during exercise and sudden cardiac death during exercise is rarely seen, myocarditis is a disorder which has a great impact in the world of sports today. This is mainly because of the risk of complications during exercise in the presence of myocarditis. Athletes with myocarditis, who died of sudden cardiac death during exercise, were not always aware of their disease prior to exercise. This review tries to clarify why myocarditis is underdiagnosed. How the difficulties in diagnosing myocarditis influence the management of the disease is also studied. After all, when myocarditis is frequently not recognized in an athlete with only a cold and taken into account that exercise in the presence of myocarditis puts the athlete at risk of sudden cardiac death, shouldn't all athletes with a simple cold change their training program? Such drastic consequences will have a huge impact on not only professional athletes, but also on recreative marathon runners and amateur soccer players for instance. Are there well documented guidelines in the Netherlands concerning the management of the athlete with a cold or the flu? Which problems have to be resolved to come to an understanding in managing this problem in a practical way? Verf.-Referat