Submitted by Dr T on June 4, 2011 – 7:45am
Question:
I’m a teenager from Massachusetts, and my family has a history of Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia.
My grandfather had it, and my father was the only child out of four to develop the disease. I have cardiology appointments every few years to check my heart. The information I find online is mostly devoted to research and for those who have ARVD, not necessarily those who may be at risk. I really want to get into running and getting back into shape, but I’m concerned as to whether I should. My physician didn’t note any problems during my physical several weeks ago, but I’m just worried about the disease. Can I exercise despite my family history, and should I even be worried about this? I know you can’t give medical advice online, so I’ll just take an indirect opinion on this. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Thanks for any help!
My grandfather had it, and my father was the only child out of four to develop the disease. I have cardiology appointments every few years to check my heart. The information I find online is mostly devoted to research and for those who have ARVD, not necessarily those who may be at risk. I really want to get into running and getting back into shape, but I’m concerned as to whether I should. My physician didn’t note any problems during my physical several weeks ago, but I’m just worried about the disease. Can I exercise despite my family history, and should I even be worried about this? I know you can’t give medical advice online, so I’ll just take an indirect opinion on this. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Thanks for any help!
This is an important question and there two ways to approach it. One is to keep testing your heart, the other genetic testing, both of which, I assume, have not yet excluded ARVD. As you probably have learned already, to confirm or exclude a diagnosis in your case may be complicated.
