3 hours ago
2
- Image caption,
Image source, Getty Images
Both sets of players formed a ring around Eriksen while he was receiving treatment on the pitch
Following his collapse at Euro 2020, Eriksen's Inter Milan contract was cancelled by mutual consent because players fitted with an ICD cannot compete in Serie A.
The Premier League and Bundesliga do not have the same regulations.
An ICD is a device about half the size of a mobile phone with thin wires leading to the area around the heart.
There are two main types of ICD.
One is fitted under the skin, usually near the armpit, and acts like a mini defibrillator.
"It works 24 hours a day and is constantly monitoring the heart rhythm," Aneil Malhotra, a professor in sports cardiology at Manchester Metropolitan University, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"If the heart develops a dangerous rhythm that could lead to a sudden cardiac arrest, then the device can rapidly detect it and deliver treatment.
"That includes a shock, if necessary, to restore a normal rhythm. It takes out the human factor, as we saw at the Euros, where CPR had to be delivered externally.
"An ICD is already in the patient and saves crucial time."
The other main type of ICD is usually fitted in the space just below the collarbone and, like a pacemaker, can also send a regular electrical signal if it detects the heart is beating too slowly.
Eriksen's first collapse came nine years after Fabrice Muamba's near-fatal injury at Tottenham and 19 years after Marc-Vivien Foe tragically lost his life in Lyon.
Luton Town's Premier League match at Bournemouth was abandoned after their captain Tom Lockyer collapsed on the pitch in 2023.
Former Bolton midfielder Muamba retired aged 24 on the advice of his doctors, but others have continued to play with an ICD - including former Manchester United midfielder Daley Blind, who returned to play for Ajax and the Netherlands after being diagnosed with a heart condition in 2019.
Two years on from suffering his cardiac arrest, Lockyer returned to football with Bristol Rovers.
