U-M health experts able to comment on cardiac arrest

The University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center has experts available to speak about cardiac arrest in the wake of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsing at an NFL game Jan. Eugene Chung , cardiac electrophysiologist, professor of cardiology, team cardiologist of Michigan Athletics and 2020-23 chair of the American College of Cardiology Sport and Exercise Cardiology Leadership Council "Damar Hamlin and his family are in our thoughts and prayers. Those of us on the outside do not have enough information to speculate on the etiology of his cardiac arrest. As the event occurred just after a collision, commotio cordis is one possibility. Commotio cordis is the condition where a precisely timed impact to the chest could cause the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation. When in VF, the heart has essentially stopped, and immediate CPR and defibrillation are critical to survival. "Again, we do not have enough information to definitively say this is the cause.