Tufts cardiologist hopes Damar Hamlin incident raises awareness of cardiac arrest

BOSTON -- Tufts doctor Christopher Madias is waiting along with football fans for an update on the condition of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, who collapsed during Monday night's game. His team says the defender suffered cardiac arrest and is in critical condition. 

"This very well could have been a commotio cordis event which is a sudden cardiac arrest from a dangerous heart arrhythmia that is induced by the chest blow," said Dr. Christopher Madias, the director of the New England Cardiac Arrhythmia Center at Tufts Medical Center.

He worked with the doctors who researched and figured out the factors that cause the phenomenon known as commotio cordis. 

"It has to really be a perfect storm of a chest blow at the exact right place with the exact amount of force at the exact right time," Madias explained. 

He said the actions taken in the minutes after Hamlin collapsed were the most critical. "That CPR was initiated quickly, defibrillation was initiated quickly, that gives him the best chance of coming out of this." 

Madias hopes that this horrible situation raises awareness that cardiac arrest can occur during sports. 

"We really need to do a better job of teaching CPR and defibrillation to society in general." 

According to Madias, there are about 20 to 30 commotio cordis cases reported a year, most commonly among 13 to 14-year-olds in sports with projectiles, like baseball, lacrosse, and hockey. 

In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker signed a law in 2017 that requires defibrillators at any school-sponsored athletic event.