{"id":36012,"date":"2023-01-06T09:12:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T14:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/?p=36012"},"modified":"2023-01-16T17:11:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T22:11:00","slug":"damar-hamlin-cardiac-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2023\/01\/06\/damar-hamlin-cardiac-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Heart Valve Disease Cause Damar Hamlin’s Cardiac Arrest?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My thoughts and prayers remain with Damar Hamlin, 24, defensive back of the Buffalo Bills. As you may have seen, Damar experienced a cardiac arrest while making a tackle during Monday’s football game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n

The great news is that the latest medical reports suggest that Hamlin’s condition is improving.\u00a0 According to CNN<\/a>, doctors say Hamlin has shown “remarkable improvement” in the last 24 hours and is “neurologically intact”. Hamlin has been in the intensive care unit since he was taken from the field.<\/p>\n

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\"DamarDamar Hamlin (Buffalo Bills)<\/p>\n

 
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Can Heart Valve Disease Cause Cardiac Arrest?<\/h2>\n

At this time, we do not know the specific cause of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.\u00a0 However, the story of Damar Hamlin has caused many patients in our community to ask an important question, “Can heart valve disease cause cardiac arrest?”.<\/p>\n

Together, we have learned that valvular defects including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation are often referred to as “silent killers”.\u00a0 In fact, as I shared during this new story about Bono, U2’s lead singer,<\/a> who recently revealed his own heart surgery for a bicuspid aortic valve,\u00a0up to 25,000 people die each year from valvular disorders including\u00a0aortic stenosis<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mitral regurgitation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, my immediate thought to this important question about valve disease as a potential cause for Hamlin’s cardiac arrest is “yes”.<\/p>\n

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\"Cardiac<\/p>\n

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That response was confirmed in a recent post by Dr. T. Sloane Guy, a robotic mitral valve specialist<\/a>, who posted the chart above at LinkedIn.\u00a0 In this chart titled, “Common cardiovascular conditions associated with sudden cardiac arrest in athletes”, you can see the different congenital and acquired cardiac conditions which may cause cardiac arrest including:<\/p>\n