Latrell Fleming, a freshman with the Badger men's basketball team, will not be able to compete at Wisconsin due to a medical condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Badgers Head Coach Bo Ryan said in a press conference Thursday.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disorder of the heart muscle that is generally characterized by enlargement of the heart muscle and a thickening of the walls of the left ventricle.
UW team physician Dr. David Bernhardt referred Fleming to cardiologists at UW Hospital who made the diagnosis.
Fleming's condition was discovered after a team conditioning workout, which was allowed by NCAA rules. During this time, he momentarily passed out.
Fleming was attended to immediately by Henry Perez-Guerra, the UW basketball team's full-time athletic trainer, and revived between 20 and 30 seconds later.
'In the best way that I can put it, we are very fortunate that we have a young man in Latrell who was diagnosed with this problem before anything else happened,' Ryan said.
Fleming's case deals with the heart, which is similar to problems that other basketball players, such as Loyola-Marymount star Hank Gathers and Boston Celtics forward Reggie Lewis, have had.
However, this case is different, as Bernhardt clarified in the press conference.
'This is not similar to Hank Gathers,' Bernhardt said. 'The only similarity is that he has a condition that predisposes him to a sudden cardiac death. I'm not as familiar with the Hank Gathers situation or Reggie Lewis, or any of these other athletes. Gathers reportedly had miocarditis, which is a viral infection of the heart muscle.'
While the Gathers and Lewis cases are notable exceptions, Fleming's condition is more common.
'If you look at all the causes of sudden cardiac death in athletes, this makes up about 40 percent of the diagnoses, which is the No. 1 cause of sudden cardiac death in people less than 35 years of age,' Bernhardt said.
Fleming is fortunate, since he got a warning. According to Bernhardt, one in 500 people will have this degenerative condition. Most never get a warning sign prior to sudden cardiac death.
This, above everything else, is why Ryan wants Fleming to get the best treatment.
'Our concern right now is with Latrell's health and in getting him the medical attention he needs,' Ryan said.
Because of this condition, Fleming will not be able to compete in any strenuous activity, such as playing basketball. The risk of death of a person with this disorder is higher when that person's heart rate and blood pressure increase.
However, Fleming will remain a part of the Badger basketball program as an undergraduate student assistant coach and can remain so for the next five years per NCAA rules.
