Soccer: Eriksen to have heart-starting device fitted

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - Christian Eriksen's future at Inter is in major doubt after the Danish football association said Thursday that the midfielder will have an ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator) heart-starting device fitted to address "rhythm disturbances" after his brush with death when he collapsed while playing for his national team at Euro 2020 last weekend.
    Although there have been cases of athletes returning to action after having an ICD fitted, experts have said this is less likely to be possible in Italy "It is possible to play in Europe with a defibrillator fitted," Professor Enrico Castellacci, Italy's team doctor when they won the 2006 World Cup and the president of the nation's soccer doctors' association, told ANSA.
    "There is the Dutchman (Daley) Blind, who is taking part in the Euros.
    "But we are much more careful and strict in granting clearance to play sport in Italy.
    "I don't know the diagnosis and we can only talk theoretically.
    "Fitting an ICD is right, necessary, for those who have had an arrhythmia like his.
    "It is necessary to see what the pathology is, but taking the field with a defibrillator under your skin exposes you to risk.
    "Impact from the ball or a tackle could knock out the mechanism which intervenes with an electric pulse in the case of cardiac arrest". (ANSA).