New clues on young heart deaths

The findings will help discover treatments to stabilise the condition

Scientists from Cardiff University claim to have made a breakthrough in unravelling the cause of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young people.

Researchers at the Wales Heart Research Institute examined the cause of the syndrome, which is believed to be hereditary.

The team said work is now being carried out to develop new therapies.

Daniel Yorath, 15, the son of ex-Wales football manager Terry, is among those to have died from the condition.

In their research, the Cardiff University team identified that certain heart channels which release calcium mutate, which prevents them closing properly.

Too much calcium is then released which is believed to lead to disrupted heart rhythms and cardiac arrest.

Daniel Yorath died at 15 of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Dr Christopher George led the research, which was funded by the British Heart Foundation.

He said that the new findings will help to discover treatments to stabilise the condition in people who have the faulty gene.

Dr George said work was already being carried out to develop a new therapy which scientists hope will restore proper channel closure and prevent SCD in susceptible individuals.

"This is crucial new evidence that mutation-linked abnormalities in cardiac calcium release may arise from defects in the channel structure," he said.

"Although there is a long way to go, this finding gives us vital clues that the precise stabilisation of these channels may represent the best way to prevent this catastrophic disease in people containing this faulty gene."

Daniel Yorath was 15 when he collapsed in 1992 as he was playing football with his father in their back garden.

Daniel, who had just signed schoolboy forms with Terry Yorath's former club Leeds United, died from a heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, one of conditions under the umbrella of SCD.