St. Louis
Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile complained of
shoulder pain and weakness the night before he died,
possible warning signs that he had heart problems,
officials said Sunday.
An autopsy on Kile, 33, revealed an 80 to 90
percent narrowing of two of his three coronary
arteries, and that his heart was nearly 25 percent
larger than normal, said Dr. Edmund Donoghue, the
Cook County medical examiner. He said the blockage
was the "likely cause of death."
Donoghue said he believed Kile's condition, known
as coronary atherosclerosis or hardening of the
arteries, brought on an erratic heartbeat. A final
determination will not be made until further tests
are completed, he said.
Though Donoghue said Chicago police found a
substance believed to be marijuana in Kile's
downtown hotel room, he said, "Marijuana had nothing
to do with his death." Donoghue said he did not
expect a final autopsy report for 4-6 weeks.
Asked about Donoghue's mention of marijuana,
Chicago police spokeswoman Officer JoAnn Taylor
said: "Our reports show that there is no evidence of
narcotics in the room. If there was some contraband,
the police would not hold back on that. We'd have to
inventory that."
Kile was found dead Saturday in his 11th-floor
hotel room at the Westin Hotel after he failed to
show up for St. Louis' game against the Cubs. The
night before, he had gone to dinner with his
brother, Daniel.
Donoghue said Daniel Kile told him that Darryl
Kile said his shoulder was hurting and that he felt
weak.
"For a guy who was a pitcher in the major leagues,
(the weakness) was an unusual symptom," Donoghue
said.
The medical examiner said he also suspected heart
problems after he learned that Kile's father died
after suffering a heart attack in his mid-40s. "It
pointed us in the right direction," he said.
The right coronary artery and the left interior
descending artery both were blocked by 80 to 90
percent, Donoghue said. Such blockages occur when
fatty deposits accumulate inside the arteries.
St. Louis
players and fans behind the Cardinals dugout pause
for a moment of silence in memory of Darryl Kile
at Wrigley Field
- Photo: Stephen Carrera/The Associated Press
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In addition, Kile's
heart weighed 552 grams. "For his weight, a normal
heart would have been 450 grams," Donoghue said.
The autopsy revealed no damage to the heart,
leading Donoghue to believe arrthymia, or an erratic
heartbeat, was the cause of death.
Attempts to speak to Daniel Kile were
unsuccessful.
Detecting heart problems can be difficult, medical
experts said. General examinations and even such
tests as EKGs cannot identify them.
Only angiograms and special stress tests using
radioactive dyes injected into the bloodstream are
effective, doctors said.
Cardinals spokesman Brad Hainje said Kile had a
physical examination during spring training but did
not know whether he had a stress test or angiogram.
He said he was not aware of Kile complaining of
chest pains.
But the pitcher was known for stoicism insisting
on pitching after his father's death and once
refusing to come out of a game after being hit in
the face by a line drive.
"We always called Darryl 'John Wayne' because he
was such a durable player, never missing a start due
to injury," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Though Major League Baseball postponed Saturday's
game because of Kile's death, the Cubs and Cardinals
met as scheduled Sunday night at Wrigley Field.
Medical experts said it is not unusual for heart
problems to manifest themselves so quickly.
"Sometimes the first presentation the person has
is a heart attack," Dr. Keith Horvath, a
cardiothoracic surgeon at Northwestern Memorial
Hospital said.
Having just one of three coronary arteries blocked
can be fatal, Horvath said. "If he had two or three
in the 80-to-90-percent range that could result in
heart attack...or arrhythmia," he said.
"If there had been a reason to do an angiogram, it
would have been picked up," Dr. Mare Ovadia, a
cardiologist at Advocate Christ Medical Center,
said.
Horvath added that even if there were no symptoms,
such as shortness of breath or chest pains, a family
history of heart problems makes testing a good idea.
"There are a lot of people who do everything
right, exercise, keep their cholesterol down - and
their genetics predisposes them," he said.
©2002
Orange County Register.
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Blocked arteries likely killed Kile
