[Heart and sports: when can it be dangerous?]

Performing sports regularly has many positive effects on the cardiovascular and other systems. The shade side of the sport (not only high-performance-, but also amateur sports) is sudden cardia death, a dramatic event for the patient and his family. Many cardiac disorders, which lead to sudden cardiac death, are inherited. One of the most common causes of sudden cardiac death is autosomal-dominant inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy characterized by its wide phenotype and genotype heterogeneity. This specific disease will be elucidated in this paper. In order to prevent sudden cardiac death in athletes, a structured cardiovascular screening is mandatory at the beginning of the sport career. If an inherited disorder leading to sudden cardiac death is diagnosed, family screening will be necessary.