Stanford athletes undergo extensive heart screening

"Stanford searches the world to recruit athletes with heart. On Sunday, it made sure those hearts were healthy. Hundreds of student-athletes underwent extensive heart checks in the school's most ambitious effort yet to prevent sudden cardiac death, the leading killer of young American athletes. Young, strong and fit, athletes from 35 teams seemed to be the picture of health as they awaited electrocardiograms (ECG) and echocardiograms at the Sports Medicine Center of the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation. But heart ailments can be silent killers, said Stanford's Dr. Victor Froelicher, lead cardiologist for the Sunday screening. 'There are 200 sudden cardiovascular deaths a year in young athletes. We would like to see that it doesn't happen here,' he said. 'It is such a paradox, that the kid who is the best physical specimen can die suddenly' - San Jose Mercury News