Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamilin is in critical condition in a Cincinnati hospital after collapsing on the field with cardiac arrest Monday night in a game against the Bengals. LSU Health New Orleans cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. Jameel Ahmed says a hard hit at the right time can cause cardiac arrest.
“Its called commotion cordis, basically theirs blunt trauma to the chest and heart area at a particularly unfortunate time all within a very narrow window of the cardiac cycle and that can lead to the heart going into an electrical arrhythmia,” said Ahmed.
The Bills announced his diagnosis of cardiac arrest early Tuesday morning. He is still in ICU in critical condition. Dr. Ahmed says the NFL medical staff are trained for situations like this.
“How well they recover is how quickly they get resuscitated the response was immediate and he was on his way on an ambulance to a hospital within several minutes. All those things are favorable prognostics,” said Ahmed.
Dr. Ahmed says being in ICU does not mean a patient is dying, it’s more so for the rehabilitation of the body.
“You want to stabilize them and make sure they have an air way, make sure they’re getting enough oxygen, supporting their blood pressure, supporting other organ systems the best you can while you give the body time to recover and heal on its own,” said Ahmed.
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