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Cardiac arrest
Commotio cordis outcomes hinge on fast AED
Sports-Related Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest due to External Causes, Including Commotio Cordis, at Schools in Japan
Acute Medicine & Surgery · 2026-10-14 · Added 17 October 2026
A nationwide Japanese school-sports database reconstructed 30 sports-related OHCAs from external causes and found commotio cordis cases did dramatically better when AEDs were applied fast — 80% favourable neurological outcome — while other external causes fared poorly.
- Study type
- Registry
- Design
- Nationwide registry case series (SPIRITS database, 2008–2022)
- Participants
- 30 cases of sports-related OHCA from external causes
- Main finding
- Among 15 commotio cordis cases, AED pads were applied in 93%, shocks in 87%, and 80% achieved favourable neurological outcome; among the other 15 external-cause cases, shocks were rare (7%) and just 7% had favourable outcomes.
- Caveat
- Only 30 cases across 15 years — descriptive data that can't establish causality for the AED programmes.
- Bottom line
- Supports current practice
Why it matters in Australia (High relevance). School and sporting-ground AED response is the same public-access defibrillation landscape Australian crews work within, so the mechanism-to-response lessons apply directly.
Learning goal
Recognise commotio cordis after chest impact in young athletes and act quickly to apply defibrillation.
More
- Topic: Cardiac arrest
- Daily scan: 17 October 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 17 October 2026
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