Football stadiums witnessed the sudden death of many players due to what is known as “sudden death syndrome”, which raises questions about the causes of this phenomenon and the chances of detecting cases early in order to save the injured.
A report by the Spanish website "amigocorazon" stated that the football world declared a state of mourning in 2016 after the death of Patrick Ekeng and Bernardo Ribeiro on the field due to heart failure.
The site indicated that the world conjured up at that time cases of deaths similar to what happened with the two young players, and perhaps one of the most remembered incidents is the death of Cameroonian Marc-Vivien Foy in 2003 during a Confederations Cup match against Colombia.
The site indicated that other players died in the same way, such as the Spaniard Antonio Puerta in 2007, the Hungarian Miklos Fehr in 2004, in addition to the Italian Piermario Morosini in 2012, the Belgian Gregory Mertens or the Cypriot Michaelis Michael, among other cases.
According to the site;
Some footballers have experienced sudden death syndrome, an umbrella term for a number of conditions that cause cardiac arrest in young adults, and the characteristics that lead to these conditions are usually more severe when combined with intense physical exercise.
Dr Norberto Debag, a pioneer in CPR training and the prevention of sudden death in soccer teams, recommended that "awareness is prevention".
The site pointed out that this doctor has conducted annual courses since 2005 with the first team of the Argentine club Atlético Atlanta, the only entity in the world where all professional football players receive information on how to act in the face of difficult situations on the field of play.
successful experience
The experiment was so successful that clubs such as Brazil's Quelmes and Argentina's Lanos decided to call in Dr. Dibagh in order to re-introduce these chapters with their players, and the aim of these courses is for the champions themselves to have basic and crucial knowledge at the same time to move forward quickly if a colleague is exposed My heart happened on the field.
As Dr. Debag explained;
In the framework of the open community CPR course, which was held at the headquarters of the Villa Crespo team, “Sudden death in sport is an unexpected event, it occurs suddenly, in a supposedly healthy field, and this occurs due to heart failure in 90% of cases, and this occurs without previous injury.
And the site quoted Dr. Hilary Jones, an expert on this topic in England, as saying that "doing vigorous sports can reveal an underlying injury that has not been diagnosed," noting that "when we see a person with a subarachnoid hemorrhage (in the brain), or a sudden stroke, On the field, we go into shock, like when someone has a heart attack. These events are not uncommon, especially among athletes, but they are not uncommon either."
The site continued with Jones, who said that in the United Kingdom 12 young people under the age of 35 die every week due to undiagnosed heart disease, but only one in 45,000 athletes will suffer from such a death.
Can it be prevented?
The site returns to the statements of Doctor Norberto Debag, who said, "Sudden death can be prevented, but it cannot be avoided," explaining that since 2004, FIFA has required 3 points to grant medical clearance to a professional player: a consistent medical examination before the competition represented by an interrogation in which symptoms and family history appear a medical examination of the heart, an EKG, and if the latter is abnormal or records any change;
Authorities can choose to perform echocardiography, stress tests, or undergo a gamma camera to deepen the diagnosis.
"In the Premier League, for example, all 16-18-year-old players from member clubs should have a heart test and then follow up early in the day," says Chandan Deverde, a cardiologist at Emory University Hospital. their careers as much as possible, and as soon as possible as well as further examinations if the annual medical examinations show results that warrant further examination.”
The site notes that although there have been many cases of sudden death in recent years;
However, there have also been encouraging cases of how an automated external defibrillator has become an essential component of critical situations;
In 2010, Miguel Garcia Salamanca's player suffered a heart attack on the field and was able to recover thanks to the quick procedures of the doctors, and the same happened with Congolese Fabrice Mwamba, Bolton's English player, when he suffered a heart attack during a match for his team in 2012, and both players had to leave professional activity, but their lives were saved.
The website concludes with Debag saying, “Within 4 minutes of a stroke, there is a 75 to 80% chance of saving a person. For every minute lost, there is a 10% less chance and chance of brain damage. It is important to perform CPR as soon as possible. As soon as possible, which is why it is important for players and referees to know who is closest to them, as well as the coaches, and the stretchers who carry the injured."