Ethan in Cleveland

This is great news. Neurologically intact can mean many things, but in general it means he is awake even while on the ventilator, he follows commands such as squeezing hands, and that he is moving all four extremities. Way way too soon to talk about any cognitive long term issues but this is a major positive sign.

No from the CPR most likely. It's not like TV. CPR is violent pushing on the chest

From a pure football standpoint, if Pittsburgh makes the playoffs I would vote for Tomlin.

Each situation is different and there is no specific time to assess brain function. CT and MRI are tools generally used more in stroke victims and not necessarily hypoxia cardiac arrest victims. In fact if all is going well they are typically awoken without the need for CT and MRI. Those imaging modalities are used if he was not recovering. If indeed he had lung injury that might require prolonged ventilation they may keep him sedated purposely to make it easier for him on the vent. There are risks to CT scans mainly the IV contrast that can cause kidney issues. And MRI of someone on the vent is possible but it is a challenge.

Good post. I would add there are multiple different mechanisms of injury that can occur with OHCA that causes ARDS. I would venture to guess that aspiration is high on the list in addition to trauma from the CPR. Typically a pulmonary contusion from CPR doesn't manifest itself as ARDS for a couple days while aspiration pneumonitis can develop in hours.

Only Bills game I have ever left before it was over. Walked out at half time and threw my hat in the garbage. Awful experience. Terrible soccer stadium. Playoffs still a possibility and to witness the worst QB debut of all time was too much. Great birthday weekend though, saw Hamilton in LA the night before.

This is true. However the arrest itself and the subsequent CPR can result in heart injury from hypoxia and physical damage to the sternum and rib cage. It's not liek TV. CPR is violent and broken ribs is not uncommon. A cardiac contusion which is different and is actual injury can occur from blunt trauma but usually a different mechanism. Think Jeremy Renner and MVA type accidents not baseballs hitting the chest at just the wrong time.

Agree. There probably is some standard procedure when a prolonged injury and ambulance is used. They likely started that process on the field before common sense kicked in that this was beyond even a terrible neck injury that we have seen sadly many too times before. I'm not going to bash the NFL as this was truly an unprecedented event and they did the best they could. It will be interesting to see how quickly Goodell and Troy Vincent were made aware of the events and how quickly they intervened. Maybe that is already known but I haven't seen it.

Good post. The hypothermia protocol has changed over the years and there is no standard protocol used. It sometime depends on how long the cardiac arrest is and what if any activity the patient is showing immediately at ROSC. You are correct a weaning trial would not be tried until the patient is fully rewarmed. And some centers do a gradual rewarming while others simply remove the cooling device and allow the patient's temperature to rise naturally. The reality of it is the patients temp is hard to control unless you are using an IV cooling catheter which has mostly fallen out of favor as most institutions are using non-invasive cooling means (ice bags/cooling blankets) as they are cheaper and easier to administer.

Not really. I know that is an easy assumption to make but brain reperfusion and recovery is mostly determined by total time of the arrest and the adequacy of the CPR, and sadly just luck.

I know most people feel the Taron hit was dirty but I don't know. Just seems like Taron was in an awkward position and the Bengals player just pancaked him. If that was Brown finishing off a block on a Bengals defender I doubt we would call it excessive. The roll into Allen's legs to me however appeared intentional and dirty. Looks like he purposefully makes an extra roll into Allen's legs. Regardless of intent it was contact below the QB knees in the pocket and he was not blocked into the QB. It should have been a penalty. People can hate on Brady all they want but this rule was appropriately put in place after his knee injury. And it should be enforced. Honesty this should be enforced more than these subtle incidental blows to the QB head where the defender just touches a hand on the facemask or helmet with glancing non-forceful contact.

Seems like too much to overcome in one year. Honestly it felt that way even before Hamlin tragedy. Now I'm not sure how the team and the community recovers. Its cliché put sometimes adversity brings people even closer. Hope so. The problem is the SuperBowl window can slam shut pretty quickly. In a few years we might be looking back at a start of a run of a few Lombardis or we could be looking back at 13 seconds when it all unraveled and spiraled downward.

This event has nothing to do with football. Can happen in baseball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse and other sports with far less contact. It's an accident that occurs very rarely. Judge football for long term cognitive and or orthopedic issues, not sudden cardiac death from blunt chest injury.

All depends on if he in the concussion protocol or not. If he is then no comments will be made. If it is a neck strain then we may hear something soon I love you too Chandler

No though I could see one point of emphasis change. When they implemented the concussion changes and leading with the crown of the helmet, that rule also applies to the ball carrier. It's rarely called but you see guys lower their head and initiate contact frequently and I don't recall it ever being called a penalty. So I could see a scenario where they make it a point of emphasis next season, even though in this case it was shoulder to chest.

Wish we knew what the play call and the responsibilities were on that second down. Seemed more than just the Bengals blew it up. 3rd down incompletion was a bad pass not a drop. A good pass and Cole scores probably untouched. It was a great route and good play design. Josh has to deliver a catchable ball. He did not. Every ball that touches a hand is not a catchable ball and not always a drop.

No. This is purely bad luck. Even Bob Costas is defending NFL today as this can happen in any sport.

Honestly except for him having pads on it is about the best scenario for a recovery. Oddly the others are at casinos. They have cameras everywhere and response times are better. Sadly there is an unpredictable nature to neurologic recovery. I've seen it multiple times. There are people who you expect to wake up and be fine and there are others that you think won't recover that do. Only time will tell.

It could be days before we know anything. His status will have no bearing on what they decide. Nor should it. My understanding is the Bills already flew home. They are not playing tomorrow. The only possibility is a Wednesday game and then moving Bills Pats and Bengals Ravens to Monday. That seems unlikely because more than one of those teams and possibly all four of them will have a short week before the playoff games. Not happening. They aren’t playing this game and they will either forfeit the Bills because they were losing at the time the game was stopped or just go by conference win percentage. It doesn’t really matter. This team is cursed this year.

Just like I said 20 minutes after the hit and they said they were doing COR. It’s the only diagnosis that makes sense.

Very unlikely. This is classic cardiac arrhythmia from blunt chest trauma. Just bad luck. The intubation is just to control the airway and is part of a prolonged resuscitation.

They aren't changing the whole NFL schedule for one game. They likely had contingency plans from COVID for a team that could not play all its games. They will reference that and just play 16 games.

Nope. No preexisting condition is needed. Just incredible bad luck.

Yeah that is standard. In fact they may put him in hypothermia protocol as well. Depends how long it took to get a rhythm back. Its all about how his brain recovers from the period of hypoxia.

That is true. But blunt impact to chest usually causes Ventricular fibrillation not asystole