Para-table tennis player: Corona is followed by myocarditis

SIt is said that athletes should listen to their bodies. This is often difficult, especially after injuries or illnesses. Top athletes are under great pressure and want to get started again as quickly as possible on a tight schedule so as not to endanger long-term goals. The story of Juliane Wolf shows what risks this entails.

The para table tennis player, who has been training at the federal base in Frankfurt since 2014, contracted the Sars-CoV-2 virus in November. It develops symptoms, but has a rather mild course. When everything seems to be over, the 32-year-old receives the green light from her doctors to go back to work after examinations – game shot, you could say in sports jargon, the virus has been defeated. Or?

Wolf quickly realizes that there is no question of victory. “I noticed that all of this was taking me away and my body was tired and not bursting with strength,” says the 32-year-old. Wolf listens to the signals. And her fellow human beings, who tell her to “take it slow”. A friend draws her attention to a study by the Goethe University in Frankfurt on heart muscle inflammation after corona infections. Wolf registers and at the same time has the plan to resume training at the beginning of the new year in order to prepare for the Paralympics in Tokyo. But nothing comes of it. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows changes in her heart. Diagnosis: Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in Wolf in mild form. The confrontation with the virus is being extended.

Risk of myocarditis

For Valentina Puntmann, the result of the MRI examination did not come as a surprise. In the summer, the scientist and co-author Eike Nagel published the results of a first study: Out of 100 test subjects who had been infected with the coronavirus, 78 patients were diagnosed with inflammatory changes in the heart. Active inflammation called myocarditis was found in 60 patients. Two thirds of the study participants had cured their infection at home, some even had symptom-free courses.

The risk of heart muscle inflammation, which can lead to rapid death in competitive athletes if it is ignored or remains undetected, prompted Wolf to go public with her diagnosis – as a warning to everyone. After the ice hockey player Janik Möser from the Grizzlys Wolfsburg, it is only the second known case among top German athletes. In many cases, myocarditis caused by a virus pathogen heals spontaneously and does not cause any consequential damage.

Do not exceed 120 beats per minute

Wolf also has this hope, following instructions from her cardiologist to ensure that her pulse does not exceed 120 beats per minute. So light training would be possible again. “I’ve tried that too. But 120 isn’t much in my case, I’ll get over it quickly. From my point of view, it makes more sense to leave that behind. I don’t want to do any experiments, ”says Wolf. The next MRI appointment is scheduled for mid-February. Then the research assistant at Goethe University in the educational sciences department will know more. If she is allowed to train again without restrictions, her eyes are fully directed towards Tokyo. After finishing fourth at her first Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the fourth in the world ranked this time expecting a medal. If the games in Tokyo do not work out, that would be “extremely sad. But I would have enough to catch me, ”says the mother of a daughter, referring to her private environment, her job and her doctoral thesis, which is currently lagging behind sport.

The risks that lurk even after an asymptomatic corona infection should not be taken lightly despite the pressure to perform in the Olympic year 2021, is their message. In ten percent of all cases in which athletes suddenly died, a heart muscle inflammation was found retrospectively. Cardiac death, triggered by unrecognized or ignored myocarditis, comes without warning.