The cardiologist explains – how elite athletes who have pacemakers are affected

2023-06-02T14:22:42.718Z

Highlights: Anders Christiansen has had an ICD, a form of pacemaker, implanted in his body. The model is of the same type of technology that Danish football star Christian Eriksen operated on after the dramatic cardiac arrest at Euro 2021. "It depends on how you assess the patient's risk of being affected again," says cardiologist Frieder Braunschweig, professor of cardiology at Karolinska Institutet. How are elite athletes who have pacemakers affected and what is the risk of suffering from heart defects?

This week, Malmö FF announced that team captain Anders Christiansen has had an ICD, a form of pacemaker, implanted in his body. The question is whether he, like Christian Eriksen, will be able to return to top football? "It depends on how you assess the patient's risk of being affected again," says cardiologist Frieder Braunschweig, professor of cardiology at Karolinska Institutet.