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The Heart Center at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio developed a case series that pointed out that teenagers without heart defects can have heart attacks. This was reported by two of the hospital’s cardiologists. Of course this can come as a shock to any parent with teens out there, but read on in order to find out the details. Drs. John R. Lane and Giora Ben-Shachar studied 9 healthy teens (1 girl and 8 boys), from age 12-20, who actually met the criteria to be diagnosed with having a heart attack. The teens had severe chest pains.
Abnormal EKGs were seen in 8 of the teens while they all experienced abnormal cardiac enzyme levels. The echocardiogram showed abnormalities in three of the teens as four teens experienced heart rhythm abnormalities. Other kinds of irregularities may have been detected but the patients’ anatomy was still deemed normal. Negative results came about from drug abuse tests, cholesterol levels, and blood coagulation rates. This information was reported in a present issue of Pediatrics.
 Dr. John Lane told Reuters Health that heart attacks in teenagers are “obviously rare but not an impossible diagnosis.” Any kind of severe chest pains should not be dismissed completely when experienced by an adolescent. Lane pointed out that heart attacks in adolescents should be treated as a “different disease” if compared to adult heart attacks. Of course there is still some good news, unlike adult heart attacks, the teens did not experience obvious risk factors, their arteries were normal and they could recover from an attack without necessarily having long-term risks. Lane also noted that none of the teens experienced having blood clots, so drugs for such ailments were not required. Drugs which expanded the heart’s arteries were considered useful. These results suggest that the heart attack may have rooted from a heart spasm. Teenagers who are involved with drug abuse should be aware of this information because drug use can definitely elevate the occurrence of a heart spasm.
Now try to calm down parents, don’t go running off and tie your teen to the bed to make sure that he doesn’t engage in any strenuous activity. Face the information. It can be quite shocking to even think that your normal adolescent could have a heart attack. But knowing the information and being aware of it couldn’t hurt any parent. These results have been found and they should be acknowledged.
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