Tehran University Medical Journal

Sudden cardiac death in sport, although rare, but is a tragic event, attracting the media and public attention. Sport and exercise may act as a trigger for sudden cardiac death. Risk of sudden death in young athletes with cardiovascular disease is 2.5 times more frequent than non-athlete individuals. More than 90% of cases of sudden death occur during or immediately after training or competition. Incidence of sudden cardiac death in any population, including athletes, is related to multiple factors such as gender, age, race, nationality, diagnostic screening methods and preventive measures for sudden cardiac death. Otherwise, incidence rate of sudden cardiac death is linked to the used definition and method of diagnosis. Different cardiovascular disorders may result in death of young athletes and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital coronary anomalies, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and aortic rupture are among the most common causes. Marfan syndrome, dilated cardiomyopathy, viral myocarditis, Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, congenital long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome and commotio cordis are reported as other etiologies. In older athletes (more than 35 years), ischemic coronary heart disease is responsible for majority of the cases similar to the general population. Because the outcome of sudden cardiac arrest in sports is very poor except in few cases, proper national strategies are needed to diminish the burden of sudden death in young athletes. It seems that there are two main strategies to achieve this goal: A) Primary prevention with use of purposeful pre-participation evaluation programs. This evaluation should focuss on the proper history and physical examination. Nevertheless, there is significant debate between American and European countries regarding the use of paraclinical investigations (especially ECG). American heart association does not recommend ECG as an essential part of evaluation. In contrast, European society of cardiology and international olympic committee advocate ECG for all athletes younger than 35 years. However, all evaluations should be based on national, generally accepted standards and done by well-educated experts. B) Setting evidence-based and updated protocols for early and effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), attendance of well equipped medical staff and early access to automated external defibrillator (AED) in all sport events and implementing CPR education in all coaching training courses.

Background: Considering the high death rate of patients on the transplant waiting list, one of the most important ethical challenges of organ transplantation is the lack of transplant organs and different approaches to cover it.
Methods: The ethical issues of organ transplantation have been frequently reviewed recently.
Results: Currently, there are 4 sources for organ transplants, which are: a) organ transplant from animal to human b) transplant from a living donor c) transplant from a brain-dead donor d) transplant from a cardiac-dead donor or donors without a heartbeat, and tissue engineering research continues to prepare a transplantable organ. Each of them has its own limitation and specific consideration. In Iran, organ procurement from brain-dead donors and living donors are the most important sources. Many approaches have been considered to increase the number of procured organs from brain-death cases in the world, but have not yet been able to reduce the gap between supply and demand. Therefore, since the 1980s, the program of organ transplantation from cardiac death (donors with irreversible cardiac arrest) in the world has been reviewed again. Based on the classification of cardiac arrest patients, they are placed in two general categories: uncontrolled and controlled. In a controlled condition, death is predictable, and organ removal is possible by eliminating planned medical interventions and patient support. But in the uncontrolled state, death occurs accidentally, which is more likely to prolong the duration of hot ischemia. Italy's organ donation group has recently introduced type 6 deaths in patients on ECMO, which is mentioned as a semi-controlled group. This group is called donors with abnormal blood flow versus brain-dead donors with normal blood flow. In this study, ethical considerations for organ donation from NHBD were discussed. Regarding the procurement of organs from non-heart beating donors, there are many ethical considerations that include both the donors and the recipients. Considering that the clinical conditions of the brain-dead donors are sometimes very unstable, cardiac arrest may occur before organ harvesting. In these cases, donation after cardiac death is an option.
Conclusion: It is necessary to regulate the ethical considerations for organ procurement from NHBD