What are the false positive and false negative rates in any particular cohort and what about the cost to players for these errors? I believe that image quality and the experience of the reader are the primary predictors of these errors; these are of the highest quality at the Combine. Echocardiographic stress tests, cardiac CT and cardiac MRI’s are on hand to clarify instances of diagnostic dilemmas. Every possible effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information for the safety of the players. The vast majority of the time there are no issues. Rarely are players disqualified from training for their safety and, occasionally, information comes to light on conditions that can be treated or simply need to be monitored. Read More >>>

By Dermot M. Phelan, MD, PhD, member of the ACC's Sports and Exercise Cardiology Section.