They Died During Sports Competition and Came Back Wired
Inside the S-ICD revolution that's letting athletes like Eriksen and Bauer compete through the unthinkable
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
A legacy transvenous implantable cardio-defibrillator (ICD) meant the end of an athletic career just a few years ago. That paradigm has shifted dramatically with the pandemic and new subcutaneous technology.
The Rise of the Subcutaneous ICD in Young Athletes: A Post-Pandemic Shift in Cardiac Protection
The sight of an elite athlete crumpling to the turf mid-game, chest unresponsive to a heart that has simply quit, has become one of the defining nightmare images of the pandemic era. And the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator—the S-ICD—has quietly emerged as the intervention of choice for a generation of young competitors walking off the field with a second chance and a titanium puck nestled against their ribcage.
