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June 18, 2021

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ICD could save Eriksen鈥檚 career

Christian Eriksen鈥檚 career could be saved by an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, a small battery-powered device to regulate his heartbeat following a cardiac arrest suffered on the pitch at a Euro 2020 game.

The Danish midfielder collapsed and received CPR on the pitch during a Group B clash with Finland in Copenhagen last Saturday, and yesterday the Danish FA announced he would have an ICD fitted.

Gunnar Gislason, head of research at the Danish Heart Foundation and a professor of cardiology, said that a return to elite sport after the insertion of an ICD is possible. 鈥淚t really depends on the condition you are treating, what kind of heart disease you are suffering from, that鈥檚 very individual, (but) there are examples of top athletes that have come back to the field and restart normal activity.鈥

The operation to insert an ICD takes one to two hours and is done under local anesthetic, Gislason explained, with patients usually kept in an extra day to calibrate the unit and ensure there are no issues with its operation.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like a monitor, it monitors the rhythm of the heart. For most people, they will never have to use it, but for those who maybe have a serious cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest, the ICD can detect it and respond to it,鈥 he said.

Daley Blind, a former teammate of Eriksen鈥檚 at Ajax Amsterdam, had an ICD fitted after collapsing in a friendly against Hertha Berlin in 2020 and was part of the Netherlands side that faced Ukraine less than 24 hours after Eriksen鈥檚 collapse.

After the game Blind spoke of his distress at seeing his friend fall to the ground, saying 鈥渋t made me sleep badly and also really think about not playing, it was a big mental hurdle to overcome, but I鈥檓 glad I did.鈥

Blind鈥檚 career could have ended following his own collapse, but doctors inserted an ICD and he was cleared to return to football.

鈥淚t (the ICD) has two main functions. It can try to override the fast heart rhythm and in that way take control of the rhythm of the heart and then slowly go down and restore the normal heart rhythm,鈥 Gislason explained.


 

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