Christian Eriksen, the midfielder of the Danish national team and Inter, victim of an illness with cardiac arrest during the debut match at the European Championships against Finland, was operated on last night at Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen hospital where he has been hospitalized since last Saturday when he collapsed in the field. The player was implanted with a subcutaneous defibrillator. An intervention considered routine in the medical field. But that forever changes the sporting life of the mezzala who made a solid contribution to this year’s Nerazzurri tricolor.
Career at risk
The sporting future of the Inter player is seriously at risk. The possibility of seeing him again on the pitch cannot be completely ruled out in serie A, but to date it can be said that the chances are reduced. Tomorrow Eriksen will leave the hospital to return to his home in Denmark and hug his family, in particular his partner Sabrina, who witnessed Christian’s drama live and was heartened by Simon Kjaer, captain of Denmark and, as a central defensive of Milan, Eriksen’s neighboring “rival”. The defibrillator that was implanted in the unfortunate player’s body is a kind of protection system that regulates cardiac arrhythmia, the same with which Daley Blind was equipped, the Dutch defender who after the accident and the operation was able to return to the field (he is here at the European Championships). But the rules are different from country to country, so the rest of Eriksen’s professional career is at risk.
The causes of the illness
In the statement on the affair, the Danish federation did not disclose any diagnosis. But everything suggests that it was a myocarditis the cause of the illness on the pitch in the match against Finland, an inflammation for which, however, according to the Danish doctors – and some international specialists they consulted – a drug treatment was not enough. Hence the choice of the defibrillator. In Italy it is not possible to continue playing with a defibrillator. In other countries, yes. As in the case of the Dutch Blind, just last night on the pitch against Austria. Holland, as well as England, open up to this possibility.
The case of Italy
In Italy, according to the protocol of the Cocis (Cardiological organizing committee for sports fitness) updated in 2017, the hypothesis must be excluded: we cannot do a contact sport with a defibrillator attached to the heart. Between 4-5 weeks the player will be subjected to new exams, which will determine if the risk of arrhythmia is correctable in any way. Exams that Inter will have the player carry out in Milan, where the entire medical procedure dealt with in recent days at the Rigshospitalet will be repeated. If so, if the problem turns out to be momentary, the defibrillator will be removed. At that point, however, a long process would open up to obtain a (not easy) suitability
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