was it ever disclosed what easley has?

jester43 · September 23, 2011

http://www.arvd.com/q_a.html'>http://www.arvd.com/q_a.html

i am not on the site every day so i apologize if this has been covered...but i coach college distance runners and after 15 years with zero incidence of heart problems, i've had 2 athletes sent to the cardiologist this year.

one situation is treatable and the athlete will be back after either meds (hopefully they work, and often they do) or a relatively simple surgical procedure (as "simple" as heart surgery could be!):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supraventricular_tachycardia

the other is a chronic, degenerative and potentially fatal condition that is typically the cause of death in healthy people who mysteriously die of heart failure while running, playing soccer, etc. You hear about these incidents fairly often, but ususally the cause is not disclosed:

http://www.arvd.com/q_a.html

the second of my two athletes has arvd and she is done running forever...it is a sad case, she was a state-caliber miler in her junior year of h.s. and started a slow downward spiral from there. her performance got worse and worse, her endurance went to hell...couldn't finish races and usually preformed at a very sub-par level when she did. after 2 years of struggle went to Johns Hopkins and diagnosed with the ARVD and told never to exercise- or risk sudden heart failure. scary stuff for an athletic 19 year old to deal with. she'll eventually have a pacemaker transplanted and hope that she'll stabilize to the point where she can safely tolerate moderate exercise.

anyway, when i heard Easley was put on IR, i immediately feared this was the problem. by contrast, if it was SVT, there would be no reason to put him on IR yet, because there's be a good chance he could safely return after treatment.

so anyway, that is my speculation on what may have happened. i hope i am wrong, because it's a sad and scary thing a young athlete to hear.

BuffaloBill · September 23, 2011

I do not believe it has been disclosed ... Gailey specifically refused to do so in a presser.

r00tabaga · September 23, 2011

He had so much promise. I hope him a speedy recovery whatever it is. If is career/life threatening, I wish him a long, healthy life and after Gaines Adams, more needs to be done to see this kind of thing earlier on in players careers.

I believe Chan left it up to Marcus if he wanted to disclose any info.

Edited September 23, 2011 by r00tabaga

Cotton Fitzsimmons · September 23, 2011

Very little seems to have been disclosed about it from what I've seen. I had wondered, if this was a chronic condition, how these things seem to go undetected/untreated for so long. When I was in high school, we had a soccer player collapse on the field and die on the scene from a heart condition. It's just a horrific scenario. We definitely miss what Easley could've been on the field, but definitely hope for his well being in general they are able to get him right.

Edited September 23, 2011 by Cotton Fitzsimmons

jester43 · September 23, 2011

Cotton if I had to bet, I would bet it was ARVD. It goes undiagnosed because it comes on slowly and the symptoms often occur very sporadically. It is a genetic condition and you'd have to screen for the gene to catch it early. The best you can generally hope for is that the athlete reports the symptoms the first time they happen, and dr. has them screened for it immediately. It kills by causing arrhythmia and sometimes the person dies during their first serious episode, so they're sort of a sitting duck. Ryan Shay died suddenly during the olympic trials marathon of ARVD and it is believed he had no serious warning signs prior to his collapse.

Herb62 · October 10, 2011

anyone hear anything on Marcus Easley? Is his illness career threatning or like the Lakers Ronnie Tarif is he going to be able to play again?

dayman · October 10, 2011

It's one of those super personal things (so I don't think there is any info on it) but when you have a heart illness IDK if you come back. I do know that an enlarged heart is a symptom though (as opposed to just the way your heart is), and it can go back down. Then again, I'm an idiot not a doctor. And I don't even know if his heart is enlarged IDK what his illness is.

Edited October 10, 2011 by dayman

jester43 · October 11, 2011

if it is the more-common SVT, then yes, you can come back. if it is the rarer, but deadly ARVD you don't. the fact that they put him on IR right away tells me it was ARVD. And yes that is rampant speculation.

Dragonborn10 · October 11, 2011

First I will say I'm a cardiologist but have no knowledge of any details of Easley's case. If Easley only had SVT, a fairly benign fast heart rhythm, it would have been treated with an outpatient procedure called ablation and he would be back practicing in a few days. If the Bills medical staff put him on IR for SVT they are fools. What is more likely is he has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy(HOCM). It is the same thing Hank Gathers had. If that is true he is done as a football player but could live a long time with treatment(meds, maybe surgery, and an implantable defibrillator). Another possibility is that he developed pericarditis. This is an inflammation of the sac around the heart. A TE at Ohio State had that and had open heart surgery in the 1990's and came back to play the next year even though his sternum(breastbone) had been sawn in half. Pericarditis usually is treated with anti-inflammatory meds but once it gets into a relapsing/chronic phase surgery may be needed. The reason I think it is HOCM is that something would have been done for him or to him by now and I just can't believe the Bills medical staff would incompetent enough to recommend IR for a simple SVT.

GaryPinC · October 11, 2011

if it is the more-common SVT, then yes, you can come back. if it is the rarer, but deadly ARVD you don't. the fact that they put him on IR right away tells me it was ARVD. And yes that is rampant speculation.

Honestly, there's a lot of things it could be. Could be ARVD, SVT actually refers to a host of different arrythmias originating above the ventricle such as PSVT, Afib, Aflutter, reentrant tachyarrhythmia (AV nodal), problems with SA node (pacemaker cells). There's also junctional blocks, or it could involve some form of ventricular hypertrophy, PVC's of questionable origin, or some other kind of VT. And there are more as I'm not a doctor but I do research in this field and elucidating the exact problem takes a lot of testing and expertise. It's probably pretty serious because he went from being "sick, back next week or so" to IR over the weekend.

Best not to speculate what it is and give Easley his privacy. Eventually we'll find out where his career stands.

Poeticlaw · October 11, 2011

None would probably believe me I couldnt even believe it my self but I had the opprotunity to talk to a gentelmen who called himself Marcus Easelys Grandfather. Though I can not recall the technical name he gave me he did give me a lot of inside information regarding easley his condition and team perspective that I felt that he may indeed be who he said he was. It was some type of irregular heart beat but he said it wasnt anything that should have put him on the IR he would have only been out a few weeks at mininum they were surprised by the move but it was exlained to them that the team was in such dire straights with thier roster and have such High Hopes for easley they wanted to make sure he is 100% healthy and hope he will be that next season. Easley and his family were very disappointed especially after the trade of Evans they felt he was really going to be able to show them what he is capable of even after missing last season. Again I understand anyones skeptism of my conversation with the man called his grandfather but if he indeed was him he stated matter of factly that he is fine and will be playing for the Bills come the opening of camp.

John from Riverside · October 11, 2011

I just hope he is able to come back and continue on with his career

BRAWNDO · October 11, 2011

First I will say I'm a cardiologist but have no knowledge of any details of Easley's case. If Easley only had SVT, a fairly benign fast heart rhythm, it would have been treated with an outpatient procedure called ablation and he would be back practicing in a few days. If the Bills medical staff put him on IR for SVT they are fools. What is more likely is he has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy(HOCM). It is the same thing Hank Gathers had. If that is true he is done as a football player but could live a long time with treatment(meds, maybe surgery, and an implantable defibrillator). Another possibility is that he developed pericarditis. This is an inflammation of the sac around the heart. A TE at Ohio State had that and had open heart surgery in the 1990's and came back to play the next year even though his sternum(breastbone) had been sawn in half. Pericarditis usually is treated with anti-inflammatory meds but once it gets into a relapsing/chronic phase surgery may be needed. The reason I think it is HOCM is that something would have been done for him or to him by now and I just can't believe the Bills medical staff would incompetent enough to recommend IR for a simple SVT.

Thanks for the info Doc. Wasn't there a push a few years ago by the NCAA to screen athletes with 2-D Echoes to help aid with earlier detection of HOCM, but it was determined to be too expensive. My freshman year of high school we had someone die of this during football practice.

moorman8 · October 11, 2011

First I will say I'm a cardiologist but have no knowledge of any details of Easley's case. If Easley only had SVT, a fairly benign fast heart rhythm, it would have been treated with an outpatient procedure called ablation and he would be back practicing in a few days. If the Bills medical staff put him on IR for SVT they are fools. What is more likely is he has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy(HOCM). It is the same thing Hank Gathers had. If that is true he is done as a football player but could live a long time with treatment(meds, maybe surgery, and an implantable defibrillator). Another possibility is that he developed pericarditis. This is an inflammation of the sac around the heart. A TE at Ohio State had that and had open heart surgery in the 1990's and came back to play the next year even though his sternum(breastbone) had been sawn in half. Pericarditis usually is treated with anti-inflammatory meds but once it gets into a relapsing/chronic phase surgery may be needed. The reason I think it is HOCM is that something would have been done for him or to him by now and I just can't believe the Bills medical staff would incompetent enough to recommend IR for a simple SVT.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/columns/story?columnist=isaacson_melissa&id=4837804

It appears that players are screened annually as part of the collective bargaining agreement. Would this rule out HOCM?

Thanks

Edited October 11, 2011 by moorman8

ColdBlueNorth · October 11, 2011

First I will say I'm a cardiologist but have no knowledge of any details of Easley's case. If Easley only had SVT, a fairly benign fast heart rhythm, it would have been treated with an outpatient procedure called ablation and he would be back practicing in a few days. If the Bills medical staff put him on IR for SVT they are fools. What is more likely is he has Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy(HOCM). It is the same thing Hank Gathers had. If that is true he is done as a football player but could live a long time with treatment(meds, maybe surgery, and an implantable defibrillator). Another possibility is that he developed pericarditis. This is an inflammation of the sac around the heart. A TE at Ohio State had that and had open heart surgery in the 1990's and came back to play the next year even though his sternum(breastbone) had been sawn in half. Pericarditis usually is treated with anti-inflammatory meds but once it gets into a relapsing/chronic phase surgery may be needed. The reason I think it is HOCM is that something would have been done for him or to him by now and I just can't believe the Bills medical staff would incompetent enough to recommend IR for a simple SVT.

Could it have been an adult ventricular septal defect. I thought that may have explained the rather drastic measures the Bills medical staff took to get him off the field and on IR, because correcting that I believe is an open heart surgery with a long recovery time and even after successful treatment there is a higher propensity for arrhythmia and sudden cardiac arrest/death.