When asked about the exact cause of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, a University of Cincinnati doctor said tests were still being done to determine it.
“The answer is that testing is ongoing. We don’t have a definitive answer to the cause of the arrest and testing will continue,” Dr. William Knight, Chief Physician and Professor of Emergency Medicine at UC Health.
Knight said they were not ruling out commotio cordis, but it was too early to draw conclusions without further testing.
Commotio cordis — when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s charge and causes dangerous quivering — is an “extremely rare event that happens. In our world, it’s also a diagnosis of exclusion, which basically means we have to Many other more common or more fatal or more repairable type conditions are ruled out before a final diagnosis can be made,” Knight said.
“Is it on the consideration list? Yes, but he has a number of other things that we need to address before we can finalize the etiology or cause of this arrest,” Knight added.
Hamlin’s doctor has repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about the results of Hamlin’s ongoing tests, citing privacy concerns.
Doctors said the review was still ongoing and they could not answer in detail how long Hamlin received CPR, Hamlin’s current oxygen levels, whether an echocardiogram had been done, whether Hamlin had seen information about an underlying rhythm or a genetic cause. specialist, or if there is damage to other organs such as the kidneys or liver.