A young man died suddenly. A blow to Greece and the role of clinical control

       Good clinical control, sometimes genetic control, plays an important role in the diagnosis of hereditary cardiovascular diseases, the first symptom of which may be sudden death, pointed out in an interview with the Institute of Cardiology FM 104.9 of the Department of Genetics and Rare Diseases that Onassios Konstantinos Ritsatos disease.
       Hereditary cardiovascular diseases include cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic electrical syndrome, and aortic disease.
        According to Mr. Ritsatos, “a study published in the scientific journal Circulation in December 2017 confirmed that 2/3 of young people with hereditary cardiovascular diseases are unaware of it and do not have aura symptoms. That is, 76% of people who died suddenly were asymptomatic. The study was conducted by The Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles between 2003 and 2013 on a wide sample of 3,000 people who had suffered sudden death, including 186 people. under the age of 35. Among them, 130 people had hereditary heart defects as the basis of their pathology.
        Today, genetic testing allows for specific etiological diagnoses, Mr. Ritsatos says, “that is, we can see other problems than the obvious ones, such as metabolic syndrome, sarcomeric disease, etc., which are etiologically different, but also in prognosis and in the approach to treatment. It also has a different meaning in how we assess the impact of these conditions on other family members.”
        Therefore, he emphasized, “if we show pathological mutations through genetic control, then, on the one hand, we will be able to facilitate the diagnosis of these cases, on the other hand, the most important thing is that we will be able to “catch” someone in the family in time.” who might appear in a future question.” Genetic testing is done with blood draws, and as Mr. Ritsatos points out, when sudden death occurs, regardless of the forensic report, whether or not it shows anything in particular, it is best to test other family members.
       “Genetic testing without funding is a blow to Greece”
       According to the cardiologist, the fact that the test in Greece is not covered by the insurance fund is a “shock” compared to other countries such as France, Germany, the UK and the Scandinavian countries.
       In response to a question about whether the cardiology community has taken any action against the state, he said discussions are ongoing to put in place proper procedures so that if there is an absolute indication, a family can undergo genetic testing covered by the fund’s insurance.
        According to the latest statistics published by the European Society of Cardiology in the European Heart Journal in November 2017, the total number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Europe is estimated at 3.9 million people annually, of which about 1.8 million are EU citizens. . Previously, men were the group with the most deaths. The data now show that among those most affected by cardiovascular disease, a clear majority are women, with approximately 2.1 million people who have died compared to 1.7 million men. As Mr. Ritsatos explained, this may be due to the fact that women have milder symptoms than men, and doctors themselves cannot properly assess this fact.
       “However, coronary artery disease predominates in the elderly, so we aimed to change the typical risk factors, namely hypertension, blood lipids, reduced smoking, diabetes and obesity,” concludes Mr. Ritsatos.