Bronny James, son of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, experienced cardiac arrest on Monday, July 24, while working out with the basketball team at the University of Southern California, where he is a rising freshman. He has been stabilized and is out of intensive care. At press time, no other details had been released, although LeBron James tweeted that all of his family members were doing great and grateful for the public support.
In”¯cardiac arrest, the heart stops abruptly with little or no warning. (This is an electrical problem as opposed to a heart attack, a circulation issue caused by a blockage, in which warning signs may appear days, even weeks earlier.) Early recognition of cardiac arrest”¯improves the person”™s chances of survival and is key to the correct care of CPR and defibrillation to restart the heart. In James”™ case, the on-site medical team rapidly evaluated the situation and appeared to respond quickly by starting CPR and providing early defibrillation.”¯
”¯CPR”¯can help keep the heart pumping and”¯blood flowing to vital organs until an electrical shock from a defibrillator is available to restore the heart to a normal rhythm. Then the patient can be safely moved for further medical treatment, supportive care, testing to determine what the cause of the arrest may have been and recovery, including both physical and mental health resources for the person and family.”¯
Cardiac arrest can have several causes. When Buffalo Bills star Damar Hamlin collapsed immediately following a tackle on a play in January ”“ he is now attempting a comeback with the team ”“ the cause was determined to be commotio cordis, a rare phenomenon from a sudden blunt impact to the chest, causing sudden death in the absence of apparent cardiac damage. The blow to the chest at precisely the wrong time in the cardiac cycle causes an electrical abnormality in the heart, resulting in”¯an irregular rhythm that cannot pump blood to the body.”¯ In such cases, immediate CPR and a shock to reset the rhythm can help the heartbeat return to normal function.”¯
”¯Another cause of cardiac arrest that additional tests are likely to attempt to detect or rule out is”¯hypertrophic cardiomyopathy”¯(HCM) or a thickened heart muscle ”“ a more common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and athletes specifically.”¯The thickened heart can be due to a genetic condition or can be caused by athletic conditioning that thickens the muscles of the heart and can make it more susceptible to an irregular rhythm like ventricular fibrillation/tachycardia.
“Our thoughts are with the entire James family as they work through this health emergency,” said Mariell Jessup, chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association. “Recognizing cardiac arrest, calling 911 immediately, performing CPR and using an AED (automated external defibrillator) as soon as it is available are critical for survival.””¯
Each year in the United States, an estimated 350,000 people experience”¯sudden cardiac arrest”¯in the community ”“ which accounts for more than 70% of all cardiac arrests. The rate of bystander CPR in North America is estimated at only 39% to 44%, and only about 1 in 10 people survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Improving the rate of bystander CPR is critical to increasing survival from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). The association has launched its”¯Nation of Lifesavers”¯initiative to improve further the rate of people willing to act in a cardiac emergency.”¯
For adults and adolescent children,”¯Hands-Only CPR”¯is an easy-to-learn skill that requires only two steps: Call emergency services and push hard and fast in the center of the chest at a rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute.”¯
For more, visit heart.org.
