HOUSTON -- A northwest Houston school district is going above and beyond the regular physical to keep its athletes safe by screening for heart abnormalities, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Tuesday.

Dr. Thomas DeBauche, a cardiologist, is studying thousands of students' hearts, looking for anything that could take a young life. It's standard practice in other countries.

"An experience in Italy using EKGs and follow up decreased sudden death in their athletes over a 10-year period by over 90 percent," DeBauche said.

He said that only about 1 percent of students could be walking around with a heart problem serious enough to limit their participation in sports.

He donated a dozen electrocardiograms, or EKG machines, and computers to Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, in order for athletic trainers and nurses to test high school athletes for free.

They are the first educators in the nation to use the technique.

"It may not pick up everything, but it's going to pick up enough that we know we need to send them further for checking," said Arnold Thomas, the head athletic trainer for Cy Fair High School.

According to Parent Heart Watch, about 50 students in Texas die from sudden cardiac arrest each year, often during practice.

"If we save one child, it's worth all the money and everything we've done, all the extra time in doing it," Thomas said.

"It was pretty easy. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be," one student said.

"It's pretty good because you can see how your heart is doing and the whole thing, and how you're doing in sports and stuff," another student said.

As part of the pilot program, approximately 2,000 athletes will be screened in the 10 high schools within the Cy-Fair district. If any abnormalities are detected, the parents will be notified.

"It's going to be the future of how we solve this problem and to be part of that future, I like that idea," DeBauche said.

More Texas schools are likely to follow suit, thanks to a statewide million dollar pilot program.