Christian Eriksen’s latest on-field collapse has put renewed attention on the small implanted device that has allowed the Danish footballer to continue playing after a major cardiac emergency earlier in his career.
Eriksen, 34, collapsed during a match against Ukraine on Sunday, according to Euronews. It was the second major health scare of his playing career: in 2021, he suffered a cardiac arrest during the European Championship and was later fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD.
Since Sunday’s incident, Eriksen has said on social media that he is doing well and recovering at home with his family. He also thanked the medical staff who treated him at the stadium and the doctors who have monitored him since 2021. “Thanks to their expertise, my ICD did exactly what it was designed to do: protect me when I need it,” he wrote.
How the device works
An ICD is a small battery-powered device implanted under the skin in the chest. Wires connect it to the heart, allowing it to continuously monitor the heartbeat and detect arrhythmias — abnormal rhythms that can become life-threatening if the heart stops pumping blood effectively.
When the device identifies a dangerous rhythm, it can deliver an electrical shock intended to restore a normal heartbeat. ICDs are commonly used for people considered at high risk of serious arrhythmias, including those who have survived a cardiac arrest or heart attack, or those with ventricular arrhythmias that begin in the heart’s lower chambers.
Playing sport with an ICD
Life with an ICD can vary by patient and diagnosis. Euronews, citing Johns Hopkins Medicine, reported that implanted devices generally last more than 10 years and that many patients can return to work, drive and take part in sports if cleared by a healthcare professional.
High-intensity sport was once broadly discouraged for people with ICDs, but more recent guidance has shifted toward individual risk assessment. The ICD Sports Registry, described by Euronews as the largest study on the subject, followed 440 athletes for up to four years and found no sports-related deaths, injuries or cardiac arrests among athletes returning to sport with an ICD. The study also found that shock thresholds could be set higher in athletes without an increase in negative outcomes.
Eriksen is not the only professional athlete to compete with such a device. German pole vaulter Katharina Bauer had a subcutaneous ICD implanted in 2018 after earlier heart problems and continued competing. Dutch footballer Daley Blind also received an ICD after being diagnosed with myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and now plays for Girona in Spain’s top division.
Eriksen’s case underscores both the role of rapid medical care and the limits of generalization: an ICD can intervene when a dangerous rhythm occurs, but decisions about elite competition after a cardiac event remain medical judgments made case by case.
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