Is Commotio Cordis Life Threatening? Everything To Know About The Uncommon Injury

Damar Hamlin's on-field injury during Monday night football has shaken up the NFL world as well as fans of a game that averages double-digit million viewership.

The Buffalo Bills safety's official diagnosis and cause of the collapse are still under wraps as doctors treating him at the Cincinnati hospital have not released a statement yet, at the time of writing. However, doctors on the Internet seem to believe that he might have suffered commotio cordis after tackling Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

A video shows Hamlin receiving a blow to the chest and head area after which he stood on his feet but collapsed after taking a few steps. Now he's at the hospital where his vitals are stable but a breathing tube has been inserted as he's unable to breathe on his own.

Commotio cordis is Latin for "agitation of the heart." The term is being widely discussed online following Hamlin's injury. Here's what to know about the phenomenon.

According to the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute, commotio cordis is life-threatening and anyone who suffers from it has a gloomy prognosis.

"Commotio Cordis refers to the sudden arrhythmic death caused by a low/mild chest wall impact. Commotio Cordis is seen mostly in athletes between the ages of 8 and 18 who are partaking in sports with projectiles such as baseballs, hockey pucks, or lacrosse balls. These projectiles can strike the athletes in the middle of the chest with a low impact but enough to cause the heart to enter an arrhythmia. Martial arts is a sport in which a strike of a hand can also cause the heart to change its rhythm. Without immediate CPR and defibrillation, the prognosis of commotio cordis is not very good. This condition is extremely dangerous with rare survival."

A study suggests that commotio cordis is an important cause of sudden cardiac death and occurs primarily in children, adolescents, and young adults. This happens while participating in recreational or competitive sports and in rare cases during normal routine activities. It is among the "most frequent cardiovascular causes of sudden death in young athletes, after hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and congenital coronary-artery anomalies."

Even so much as a low-impact blow to the precordium—the region on the chest wall that overlays the heart cage—can trigger ventricular fibrillation and result in fatal commotio cordis events.

Hamlin was administered CPR for several minutes on the field before he was taken to the hospital. This improves his chances at recovery, in case he suffered commotio cordis. Here's praying he gets back on the field soon!