Abstract:
The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) 2015 Guidelines for
Resuscitation were published recently. For the first time, these
guidelines included a subsection on ‘cardiac arrest during
sports activities’ in the section dealing with cardiac arrest in
special circumstances, endorsing both the importance and
unique nature of this form of cardiac arrest. This paper reviews
four critical areas in the management of sudden cardiac arrest
in a football player: recognition, response, resuscitation and
removal from the field of play. Expeditious response with
initiation of immediate resuscitation at the side of a collapsed
player remains crucial for survival, and chest compressions
should be continued until the automated external defibrillator
(AED) has been fully activated, so that the sideline medical
team response to the side of a non-contact collapsed player on
the field of play, with AED and defibrillation, occurs within a
maximum of2 min from collapse.
