Teen Heart Screening

Free Heart Health Screening for Teens in Teton County

It’s a rare event, but teenagers can be susceptible to heart disease even at their young age. The likelihood of this happening greatly increases if your family has a history of heart disease, and often results in congenital heart abnormalities. One of the more common teen heart conditions is cardiomyopathy. This is a disease that damages the heart muscles and make it difficult for blood to flow throughout the body. Cardiomyopathy can be extremely dangerous for teens that participate in athletic activities, and can even result in death in rare cases.

If your child is thinking about joining, or currently involved in a sport, they should have a quick heart assessment. Local teens who participate in school and community sports can be screened for free at St. John's Health for potentially fatal genetic heart conditions.

Register your teen for a free screening on October 14, 2017:

Heart Screenings Are Not Performed in Standard Sports Physicals

It is estimated that 1 in 250 teens age 14 to18 are at risk for potentially fatal heart abnormalities. The St. John's heart screening includes a 12-lead ECG and a limited two-dimensional echocardiogram ("echo" or ultrasound of the heart) to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.

These tests are not included in standard pre-participation sports physical examinations. Both the ECG and echo are noninvasive and painless, but they can be quite expensive. Due to support from the St. John's Hospital Foundation and Shirley’s Heart Run, St. John's is able to provide this screening at no charge to families. St. John’s is pleased to have Teton County School District as a program participant.

If the screening indicates that additional testing is necessary, St. John's Health is working with Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT for follow up care.