Game Changer

Aplayer being injured during a football game is a common occurrence. Pulled muscles, strained ligaments, concussions... those who play the game at its highest level know such injuries, while painful and potentially life-changing, are all part of the game. But for a professional athlete to collapse on the field during a game because his heart stopped beating? Well, that is something almost unheard of. So, when the Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game in January, thousands of fans in attendance and millions more watching on television sat in stunned silence.

The team’s physical training staff and an emergency medical team leaped into action almost immediately after Hamlin, 24, fell motionless onto his back. The medical personnel weren’t there to get him up and ready for the next series of plays. No, they quickly realized his life needed saving. Right there, right now. Minutes of emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and shocking the heart via an automated external defibrillator (AED) were followed by Hamlin being whisked away to a nearby hospital.

It is believed Hamlin suffered what is called commotio cordis—a million-to-one happening when a person is struck right over the heart at the precise wrong moment during a heartbeat. The sudden trauma pushes the victim into cardiac arrest. It’s a rare thing, for sure. But as freak as the incident was, it did bring worldwide attention to the miracle muscle that is the human heart.

A heart attack (medically known as a myocardial infarction) is a deadly medical emergency where one’s heart muscle begins to die because it isn’t getting enough blow flow. A blockage in the arteries that supply blood to the heart usually causes this. If a healthcare provider doesn’t restore blood flow quickly, a heart attack can cause permanent damage and even death. Of course, the most common cause for a heart attack isn’t being tackled during an NFL game. No, that would be heart disease, something that takes the lives of nearly 680,000 people in the U.S. each year, or about 1 in every 5 deaths. Sobering statistics, for sure. However, physicians and researchers aren’t sitting by idle.

“Perhaps the most notable recent medical innovations in heart care have been in the research and clinical trials space,” says Dr. Saumil Oza, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside. “For example, we were one of the first sites in the world and the first in Florida to enroll patients in a clinical trial called CHAMPION-AF. It’s examining the effectiveness of the WATCHMAN device as a potential first-line therapy for reducing stroke risk in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation.”

The broad term “heart disease” actually refers to several types of heart conditions, the most common of which in the U.S. is coronary artery disease, which affects the blood flow to the heart. It happens slowly over time when a substance called plaque builds up in the arteries that supply the heart muscle with blood. The plaque gradually narrows blood flow and, if flow is decreased enough, it can cause a heart attack.

Angina and arrhythmia are two of the other more common types of heart disease. The causes for each depend on the type of disease but the usual suspects are lifestyle, genetics, infections and other diseases. According to the CDC, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. About half the people in the country (some 47%) have at least one of these three risk factors. Several other medi- cal conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at higher risk for the disease, including diabetes, obesity, physical inactivity and excessive alcohol use.

“We’re also enrolling patients in a clinical trial for an artificial intelligence-based software that helps treat persistent, drug-resistant atrial fibrillation (AFib),” says Dr. Oza. “Atrial fibrillation is an irregular heartbeat that can lead to more serious health issues like heart failure and stroke. Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside was one of the first three hospitals in the U.S. to enroll patients in the trial.

“This year, we will be enrolling patients in various trials using novel artificial intelligence based software that has been developed by several companies to improve the outcomes of patients who have failed previous ablations,” Dr. Oza continues. “In the setting of clinical trials, we will also be using new energy sources that are safer and faster than freezing or burning tissue that will revolutionize the care of our patients with AFib. We will also be enrolling patients in trials that will allow us to use next generation devices from several companies to prevent the occurrence of stroke in patients with AFib.”

Ten days after the country witnessed Hamlin’s collapse on a cold football field in Ohio, news reports splashed the headline that Lisa Marie Presley, 54, the only daughter of Elvis Presley, died after experiencing a cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is less common in women than it is men, and it’s relatively rare for women to die from it. Sadly, Presley wasn’t as fortunate as Hamlin. As of publication, it wasn’t clear what caused her cardiac arrest of if she had contributing health conditions that led to her death. Her father, The King, died at age 42 of a heart attack. u