Centreville (Ohio) midfielder Grant Mays survived a commotio cordis event May 14. His heart stopped after a ball hit him in the chest, but he was revived by an AED.


ECLIPSE OF THE


Sudden cardiac death due to chest impact with projectiles in sports is rare, but devastating. It’s called commotio cordis. While it’s more common in baseball, the phenomenon has had tragic consequences in lacrosse. Commotio cordis occurs when a blunt blow to the chest wall directly over the heart happens during a precise moment in the heart’s cycle, disrupting its normal rhythm and causing cardiac arrest. Since 1983, seven lacrosse players have died from such events. Immediate application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and deployment of an automated external defi brillator (AED) to deliver a life-saving shock or defi brillation are the only effective response to commotio cordis. Grant Mays of Dayton, Ohio, can testify to that.


On May 14, Mays’ Centreville High School team was playing at Moeller High School in Cincinnati when the senior midfi elder was hit in the chest by a shot. Shortly after picking up the ground ball, he collapsed. Moeller’s head athletic trainer Craig Lindsey immediately rushed onto the fi eld. Two parents with medical training also came down from the stands. With Mays unresponsive to initial treatment, the medical team placed the paddles of Lindsey's AED on Mays’ chest and administered one shock. He responded immediately and began breathing on his own. By the time local paramedics arrived and had Mays in the ambulance, his condition stabilized. “Without the AED, it could have gone the other way,” Lindsey said. “We’re so blessed that it did its job.”


34 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE January 2017 USlacrosse.org


HEART


©DEBBIE RANKEY


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