Dr. Siegel reacts to Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest during game
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel reacts to Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin being hospitalized in critical condition after sudden cardiac arrest during Monday night game
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel said Tuesday that 24-year-old Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin likely suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on-field during Monday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals due to commotio cordis, an arrhythmia brought on by a precisely-timed blow to the chest.
"That was not a severe blow, but a moderate blow directly to the chest. The most common thing would be something called commotio cordis which is Latin for ‘agitation of the heart,’" he said Tuesday on "Fox & Friends."
"You don't have to have underlying heart damage or an underlying inflammation of the heart for this to occur. It occurs because [the blow] happens at just the right time in the cardiac cycle where you get an arrhythmia. Your heart starts beating irregularly due to the blunt trauma, and you go into something called ventricular fibrillation where your heart is quivering…"
DAMAR HAMLIN SUFFERED CARDIAC ARREST DURING GAME, HEARTHEAT RESTORED ON FIELD, BILLS SAY
Damar Hamlin, safety for the Buffalo Bills, suffered a cardiac arrest during the Jan. 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. (Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
Siegel said the ailment would explain why Hamlin suddenly dropped after completing a tackle during Monday's game.
The Buffalo Bills said medics restored Hamlin's heartbeat on the field before transporting him to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where he remains in intensive care.
Siegel called the medics' successful resuscitation "tremendous."
"He had CPR pretty soon and the ambulance was there within five minutes. They used an automatic external defibrillator to restore his heart rhythm. The key question is – how long did he go with less oxygen to the brain? From what these reports are, I'd say his prognosis is good," he said.
Buffalo Bills' Spencer Brown (79) reacts as teammate Damar Hamlin is examined during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Monday, Jan. 2, 2023, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Siegel added that commotio cordis is "very common" among younger athletes and is the "second most common" cause of cardiac arrest incidents.
Atlanta-based physician Dr. Frita Fisher echoed Dr. Siegel's analysis Tuesday when she told "Fox & Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt that Hamlin was hit in the chest in the "most unlucky fashion."
"It's likely something called commotio cordis, which is something that occurs often in sports when the front of the chest is hit at the exact, precise place and the exact time in the cardiac cycle to cause the heart to stop beating effectively. It causes an arrhythmia," she said.
CHILLING VIDEO OF HAMLIN TALKING ABOUT BILLS TEAMMATE'S INJURY SURFACES
Damar Hamlin #3 of the Buffalo Bills after a game against the Tennessee Titans at Highmark Stadium on September 19, 2022 in Orchard Park, New York. (Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)
"The heart is moving, but it's moving in a fibrillated fashion where you cannot get blood to the brain, to the body, you pass out and, oftentimes, patients can die if there's not CPR or an AED [automated external defibrillator] in place right away," she added.
Earhardt reported that medics performed CPR on Hamlin for nine minutes after he collapsed on the field after completing a tackle against a Bengals player and rising to his feet for a brief moment.
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Team medical staff and independent paramedics managed to restore Hamlin's heartbeat before he was carried off the field in an ambulance and transported to the hospital where he remains in critical condition as of Tuesday morning.
Fox News' Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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