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Former Professional Football Players Get High Tech Cardiovascular Screening During Super Bowl Week

Posted on: Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 15:01 CST

LISLE, Ill., Jan. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Professional football can be an exciting and rewarding way of making a living. But it is also extremely demanding, physically and emotionally. Reliable statistics on former professional athletes are hard to collect, but rumors abound that the average life expectancy for a professional football player who plays 5 years or more is around 56 years.

Archie Roberts MD, head of The Living Heart Foundation, which sponsors a free cardiovascular screening program for NFL players, understands the challenges they face. He's a retired cardiac surgeon and former quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins.

"The combination of large body size and the collisions associated with football can take a toll on the body as retirement occurs and the aging process continues," said Dr. Roberts. "In our experience in screening over a thousand active and retired players over the last three years, we believe we have prevented serious health problems from occurring. I think that over the past three years, we have saved some lives. This is a great bunch of guys. We're very happy that we can serve a purpose," he concluded.

Sixty former NFL players to be monitored with a new noninvasive test during Super Bowl Week

In addition to traditional cardiovascular screening tests, The Living Heart Foundation is using a new noninvasive technology to help assess athletes' cardiovascular health and their risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke -- SphygmoCor(R), a central blood pressure monitoring system from AtCor Medical. Sixty former NFL players are scheduled to receive SphygmoCor (R) assessments of central blood pressure and arterial hardening in Miami during Super Bowl Week.

The SphygmoCor system uses a pressure sensor the size of a ballpoint pen pressed against the patient's wrist to capture an arterial blood pressure wave. The SphygmoCor system uses this wave to calculate and display the patient's central pressure wave. It provides the physician with the blood pressure levels in the ascending aorta, the blood vessel leading from the heart, along with other important cardiovascular data.

Formerly central blood pressure measurements were determined invasively, with a catheter inserted in the patient's aorta. With SphygmoCor, they can now be taken noninvasively with a test administered in a physician's office or clinic.

Detecting pressure reflected back at the heart, invisible at the arm

Central blood pressures differ from traditional cuff blood pressure measurements taken at the arm in many ways. Most significantly, central pressure measurement shows the additional blood pressure reflected back at the heart from the arteries, augmenting the outgoing pressure exerted by the heart beat. Reflected blood pressure increases when the arteries harden because of age, disease, or other factors and can increase the burden on the heart and other organs.

Studies identify high central pressure as a predictor of stroke and heart attack

Major clinical studies using SphygmoCor, such as the CAFE and strong Heart Studies, showed that high central blood pressure by itself was a predictor of cardiovascular events such as stroke or heart attack, and that traditional blood pressure measurement alone was not. The CAFE study also showed that when lowered central blood pressure was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular events and that important, beneficial medication effects could be measured by central pressure monitoring, but not by cuff blood pressure measurements at the arm.

An early warning system -- equally important for regular, aging Boomers

SphygmoCor can be a very valuable tool in assessing the risk posed by elevated central blood pressure and arterial hardening. It also allows physicians and patients to monitor the success of lifestyle changes and medication therapy in reducing central pressures and arterial hardening. For retired football players or aging Baby Boomers, it can provide vitally important information about cardiovascular health.

About Living Heart Foundation

The Living Heart Foundation is a nonprofit organization, which was initially funded under a grant from the Edison Foundation. LHF was established by retired heart surgeon Archie Roberts MD in 2001 to combat sudden cardiac death and to provide risk stratification with early intervention for cardiac, pulmonary and metabolic conditions through on-site screening and integrated health programs.

Most recently the LHF has begun a national health screening program involving current and retired football players and has screened over 1,000 current and former NFL players. The organization has also become a partner with The American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology and Pfizer in an exciting new movement called the Boomer Coalition. The purpose of the alliance is to promote public awareness of the significance of CV disease in the aging baby boomers.

About SphygmoCor/AtCor Medical

The SphygmoCor system was developed and is manufactured and distributed by AtCor Medical , a company based in Sydney, Australia, with US headquarters in Lisle, IL. The SphygmoCor system received FDA 510-k marketing clearance in 2002. SphygmoCor systems are used to monitor central blood pressures in diagnosis, therapy management, in pharmaceutical research and in clinical trials. In ten of the fourteen hospitals on the U.S. News & World Report "Best Hospitals" Honor Roll, and in leading institutions and physician practices around the world, clinicians and researchers use the SphygmoCor technology to noninvasively assess central blood pressures and arterial stiffness.

For more information about The Living Heart Foundation program: Scott Perryman 508-254-1108 http://www.livingheartfoundation.org/

For more information about SphygmoCor and AtCor Medical: Larry Watts 630-799-8219 http://www.atcormedical.com/

AtCor Medical

CONTACT: Scott Perryman of The Living Heart Foundation program,+1-508-254-1108; or Larry Watts of AtCor Medical, +1-630-799-8219

Web site: http://www.atcormedical.com/http://www.livingheartfoundation.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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