Sudden deaths due to ill-timed blows to the chest called commotio cordis [1] are more common in the nation's fastest growing sport, lacrosse [2], than in any other sport, according to a new study in the September 2009 journal, Pediatrics.1
Researchers reviewed 28 years of data in a registry maintained by Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation on sudden death events among high school and college lacrosse players.
Among the key findings:
The most recent death [7] of a lacrosse player from commotio cordis occurred in February 2012, when 12-year-old Tyler Kopp, a seventh-grader in the Rochester, New York area, was hit in the chest by a ball passed by an opposing player during a game. After Tyler was hit, he collapsed to the floor and stopped breathing. Although an off-duty Rochester firefighter administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and paramedics began using an AED on Tyler four minutes after he was struck in an attempt to restore a steady heartbeat before taking him to the hospital, he never regained consciousness and died five days later.
To reduce the number of commotio cordis deaths in lacrosse, the study's authors suggest:
1. Maron, B.J. et. al., "Commotio Cordis and the Epidemiology of Sudden Death in Competitive Lacrosse," Pediatrics 124 (3); 976-981, September 2009.
Added August 14, 2009; revised February 24, 2012
Links:
[1] https://momsteam.com/node/301
[2] https://momsteam.com/node/1938
[3] https://momsteam.com/node/371
[4] https://momsteam.com/node/385
[5] https://momsteam.com/node/254
[6] https://momsteam.com/node/2644
[7] http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120208/NEWS01/202080309
[8] https://momsteam.com/node/300
[9] https://momsteam.com/node/297
[10] https://momsteam.com/node/2770
[11] https://momsteam.com/node/4495
[12] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/cardiac-safety/general/commotio-cordis-leads-to-sudden-cardiac-arrest
[13] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/cardiac-safety/general/cpr-and-aed-training
[14] https://momsteam.com/health-safety/cardiac-safety/automatic-external-defibrillators-aeds/onsite-placement-of-an-aed-is-critical