Former NFL Doctor Dr. David Chao gives his thoughts on Curtis Samuel's heart

[Saca312]

Whenever the word "heart" and "procedure" come together, most would jump to conclude such as a serious issue. After all, the heart is considered one of the most important vital organs of the human body, and it's fair to say anything wrong is concerning.

However, former NFL doctor David Chao says not to worry. From the indication of "minor" to his past experience with this issue, he gives his prognosis:

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/profootballdoc/sd-sp-pfd-curtis-samuel-panthers-heart-0904-story.html

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No question the situation was treated seriously, but this probably will be a blip on the screen for Curtis Samuel and the Panthers.

I have not examined Samuel nor seen his EKG, but this almost certainly was not anything life-threatening or even significant in terms of threatening his career.

 

This is very telling. For one, this shows that the "minor" procedure Ian Rapoport reported is indeed as the name says - minor. Despite involvement of the heart, it appears the situation isn't as dire as it appears on the surface. 

Going on, he explains his deduction:

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The most common irregularity is atrial fibrillation, where there is an abnormal electrical signal in his heart. Often this is treated with medication, but sometimes players feel groggy or somewhat unsettled on the medication and an ablation procedure (where the source of the abnormal signal is destroyed) is performed instead.

This is typically a minor outpatient cardiac procedure in which a cannula (small tube) is inserted into the vessels.

This goes in line with what a few Huddlers have said in the other thread. Given the indication this procedure was minor, the likely possibility was that he underwent an ablation procedure. With that being said, such is certainly not a serious procedure whatsoever. In fact, it's very likely he'll be 100% by next week.

As for the season opener, it's hard to expect he'll be ready by then, but Chao says he'd be surprised if he doesn't play in week 2:

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It does certainly seem likely Samuel will miss the Panthers’ season opener, but an absence beyond that should not be anticipated.

In my 17 years as an NFL team physician we encountered several of these situations, and most times it never became public.

However, the most comforting conclusion he makes with the background of his past injuries concerning his ankle and other ailments is encouraging:

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Samuel should not be labeled a medical risk.

 

[FakePlasticTrees]

Encouraging. I suspected it was an ablation procedure for atrial fibrillation.I believe Larry Bird had afib while playing even though it was not diagnosed until after his retirement.

[pantherclaw]

I told the huddle at the end of the season, that samual would Be healed up and ready to go by training camp. No one believed me. Then they all hopped on that train late. 

Now this, and I have already said he'll be fine, but the huddle are fricking lemmings.

[TheSpecialJuan]

excellent 

[Udogg]

What.. I thought in the thread from earlier today that he was going to have his retirement news conference on Friday. 

[PantherNation123]

4 minutes ago, thebigcat said:

For what it's worth, David Chao is an orthopedist, as a former hospitalist Orthopedic doctors usually hold EKGs upside down. Him weighing in on a heart arrhythmia is like asking a plumber to given an opinion on a electrical breaker panel 

Haha that's a pretty drastic analogy there

[davos]

I was going to post a thread as a FYI into SVTs, Ablations, Atrial Fibs, etc. but this seems to have done the trick.

People: Electrophysiology if not quite cardiology.  

A lot of the time you can take pills instead of the ablation like metoprolol and you can live with the irregular heartbeat.  The procedures can be voluntary unless it's something potentially more harmful like WPW.   

They found mine during resection recovery removing the big-c--I had an SVT episode where I sustained a 210 BMP heart rate for like 8 minutes.  Luckily, I had an awesome electrophysiologist and they gave me a shot that dropped it from 210 to 65 in like 3 seconds; crazy out of body experience. 

When I finally scheduled my ablation and got that done some months later, it took a morning in the hospital and recovery the day of was mostly due to the amount of anesthesia I was given.  Chest felt scratchy for a few days and I had to take it easy but I was back at the gym the next week (~3 months post resection, 1 week post ablation) 

Samuel's got dis'  

[iBBB]

From my 24 year experience, atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular beating of the atria. Often it starts as brief periods of abnormal beating which become longer and possibly constant over time. Often episodes have no symptoms. Occasionally there may be heart palpitations, fainting, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, or chest pain. The disease is associated with an increased risk of heart failure, dementia, and stroke. It is a type of supraventricular tachycardia.

High blood pressure and valvular heart disease are the most common alterable risk factors for AF. Other heart-related risk factors include heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, and congenital heart disease. In the developing world valvular heart disease often occurs as a result of rheumatic fever. Lung-related risk factors include COPD, obesity, and sleep apnea. Other factors include excess alcohol intake, tobacco smoking, diabetes mellitus, and thyrotoxicosis. However, half of cases are not associated with any of these risks. A diagnosis is made by feeling the pulse and may be confirmed using an electrocardiogram (ECG). A typical ECG in AF shows no P waves and an irregular ventricular rate. By the way, I have zero experience and thanks for reading. I just copy & pasted this poo from wiki.

[Moo Daeng]

1 hour ago, thebigcat said:

For what it's worth, David Chao is an orthopedist, as a former hospitalist Orthopedic doctors usually hold EKGs upside down. Him weighing in on a heart arrhythmia is like asking a plumber to given an opinion on a electrical breaker panel 

Electrical breaker panels aren't exactly complex things. I'm sure any  plumber of average intelligence can explain them quite well.

[Montsta]

6 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

Electrical breaker panels aren't exactly complex things. I'm sure any  plumber of average intelligence can explain them quite well.

If I have an arc fault breaker that keeps tripping and can’t figure out why, I’m certainly going to call an electrician and not a plumber. 

[Moo Daeng]

 

 

1 hour ago, Montsta said:

If I have an arc fault breaker that keeps tripping and can’t figure out why, I’m certainly going to call an electrician and not a plumber. 

No poo. That wasn't the analogy though.

[Moose Hoover]

Plumber crack. Crack is whack. Whack a mole. Get that mole removed by a doctor. Heart doctor. Whoa. That's only 5 degrees of separation. Plumbers are fine, ya'll back off. Shut your fat mouth, pig.

[WarHeel]

6 hours ago, thebigcat said:

For what it's worth, David Chao is an orthopedist, as a former hospitalist Orthopedic doctors usually hold EKGs upside down. Him weighing in on a heart arrhythmia is like asking a plumber to given an opinion on a electrical breaker panel 

I strongly disagree. They teach us how to read EKGs in PT school. I’ve read through a 400 page text book for one exam on EKGs so I doubt an MD would see much less. Just because he specializes in ortho doesn’t mean he isn’t knowledgeable on the subject.

[UpstatePanther]

8 hours ago, Montsta said:

If I have an arc fault breaker that keeps tripping and can’t figure out why, I’m certainly going to call an electrician and not a plumber. 

I agree with you, but I have experience with plumbers and electricians. There's often alot of crossover between those two. Plumbers pick up alot of electrical knowledge and vice versa. 

That said, I'm not sure if that applies to orthopedists and cardiologists or not lol