Anabolic steroids cause enlargement of the heart in humans and
test animals.(1,2) These are the same changes in heart
muscle that occur in chronic heart failure.(3) For these
reasons, when a young athlete experiences sudden death the body is
often evaluated for steroid abuse.(3) In one case report,
a 21-year-old steroid abuser collapsed and died during a
workout.(4) The autopsy revealed an enlarged heart with
areas of dead heart-muscle tissue. Medical authorities speculated
that steroid abuse caused his heart muscle cells to grow faster
than the blood vessel supply. This created an area of heart tissue
with poor blood flow, leading to death of the new cells and a fatal
heart attack.(4)
REFERENCES 1. Creagh TM, Rubin A, Evans DJ. Hepatic tumours induced by anabolic steroids in an athlete. J Clin Pathol 1988;41:441-3. 2. Yesalis CE, Wright JE, Bahrke MS. Epidemiological and policy issues in the measurement of the long term health effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids. Sports Medicine 1989 Sep;8(3):129-38. 3. Ferenchick GS. Association of steroid abuse with cardiomyopathy in athletes. American Journal Of Medicine 1991 Nov;91(5):562. 4. Luke JL, Farb A, Virmani R, Sample RHB. Sudden cardiac death during exercise in a weight lifter using anabolic androgenic steroids - pathological and toxicological findings. Journal Of Forensic Sciences 1990 Nov;35(6):1441-7. by Trent Tschirgi, R. Ph. (c) 1992 University of Maryland Office of Substance Abuse Studies. All Rights Reserved.
Obviously this was a case of abuse, but nonethless the heart is a muscle.
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