IN recent times, sudden cardiac death in footballers has come to the forefront of the contact sport.

In fact, chairman of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Medical Committee, Dr Guyan Arscott, last Wednesday told the Jamaica Observer that the recognition of sudden death in football has been one of the “most startling things” of late.

Two Trinidadian footballers, in a matter of months, are suspected to have died from heart attacks.

The first, Akeem Adams, 22, died last December after spending three months in a Budapest, Hungary hospital following a massive heart attack last September. He had joined the Ferencvaros Club in that country last August. Then in February 2014, 30-year-old Kevon Carter died of a suspected heart attack after reportedly training at Macqueripe in Trinidad with Defence Force in preparation for the Caribbean Football Union Club Championship.

Two years ago, Jamaica also had a case where a footballer was suspected to have died from a heart attack.

Dr Arscott told the Sunday Observer that what the JFF has done is to introduce a programme where players complete a pre-competition assessment.

“Some players have congenital cardiac issues that are very subtle and may not manifest in any significant inability to perform until some point of high stress or high contact, and then you get a sudden cardiac arrest,” Dr Arscott explained.

The pre-competition assessment, though costly, is very important as it is a complete cardiac assessment that would serve to identify cardiac issues, however subtle they might be, Dr Arscott said.

He also pointed out that in the event that a player is injured on the field of play, if the injury is significant, the referee will signal for the medical team on the sideline to come onto the field and render assistance. The medical team should not run onto the field if the referee does not give a signal. However, if the medical team’s doctor suspects that the player had a cardiac arrest or significant cardiac injury, Dr Arscott said he is duty-bound, from a medical standpoint, to run onto the field, whether the referee signals or not.

The committee chairman said that when that doctor is running onto the field, he should have a defibrillator in hand.

“What has been shown in recent years is that you can pump and pump and (do) cardiac massage and resuscitation, sometimes you can do that until the cows come home, they might not recover,” Dr Arscott said, adding that the defibrillator will shock the heart and restore the electrical activity in the heart that allows it to work.

Dr Arscott insisted that this is a special but tragic area that has to be explored and its importance has certainly been noted because FIFA has addressed the issue at its medical committee meetings to the extent that the organisation promised to send defibrillators to all national teams.

Dr Arscott admitted that it might not be possible to provide everything needed at an important football match, but having a defibrillator is of paramount importance.