Hamlin still is in critical condition after the 24-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field during Monday night’s game in Cincinnati, his team said Tuesday, a stunning moment that left players weeping, praying and embracing as their teammate was taken away by ambulance. Hamlin spent the night in the intensive care unit at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he remains Tuesday, the team said.
Hamlin is “flipped over on his stomach” in the hospital to help with the blood on his lungs, according to Glenn. Doctors told Glenn his nephew is in that position to help take the pressure of the lungs, so they don’t have to work as hard.
The next step is to get Hamlin, who is still sedated on a ventilator, to breathe on his own, he said.
During the first quarter of Monday’s game, Hamlin fell on his back just moments after getting up from an open field tackle of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins. “His heartbeat was restored on the field” and he was transferred to the medical center “for further testing and treatment,” the Bills tweeted Tuesday.
Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating properly, and death can be quick if help isn’t rendered immediately. It is not the same as a heart attack or heart failure.
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said sometimes when the heart is not beating well, fluid can back up into the lungs and make it hard for the medical staff to oxygenate the patient. So, they will flip the person on their stomach to what is known as the prone position to make breathing easier.
Gupta also said it sounds like Hamlin is still having a significant amount of cardiac dysfunction and his heart cannot pump enough blood.
One of the treatment options is to decrease the demand of the body for oxygenated blood, he told Anderson Cooper ,monitored by NSEMGH.
“So you want to improve the amount of circulation but in the interim, you can also decrease the demand by sedating somebody, by keeping them on a breathing machine,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll even use cooling agents, hypothermia it’s called, to basically almost put the body in more of a hibernation-like state so it’s not demanding as much oxygenated blood. That’s part of the reason he would be on a breathing machine as well.”
Gupta said it is still unclear to what lead to the cardiac arrest.