A spokesperson has indicated the cause of the cardiac arrest suffered by LeBron “Bronny” James last month at a University of Southern California (USC) basketball practice. And guess what? It didn’t match some of the conspiracy theories that circulated soon after James, the 18-year-old son of NBA star LeBron James, was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Instead, the probable cause was “an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect,” according to the statement.
Here’s what the statement said: “After a comprehensive initial evaluation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center led by Dr. Merije Chukumerije and follow-up evaluations at the Mayo Clinic led by Dr. Michael J. Ackerman and Atlantic Health/Morristown Medical Center led by Dr. Matthew W. Martinez, the probable cause of Mr. James’ sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has been identified. It is an anatomically and functionally significant Congenital Heart Defect which can and will be treated.” It added, “We are very confident in Bronny’s full recovery and return to basketball in the very near future.”
This came nearly a month after Cedars-Sinai had issued a press release on July 27 mentioning that James had been discharged from the hospital. It read, “Thanks to the swift and effective response by the USC athletics’ medical staff, Bronny James was successfully treated for a sudden cardiac arrest. He arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center fully conscious, neurologically intact and stable. Mr. James was cared for promptly by highly-trained staff and has been discharged home, where he is resting.”
The July 27 press release was attributed to Chukumerije, a cardiologist who was actually taking care of James, as opposed to those on social media who claimed that Covid-19 vaccines were somehow involved despite the lack of that thing called evidence. These days seemingly every time there’s news of a death or a serious heart problem, people and anonymous accounts on social media begin disseminating assertions that Covid-19 vaccination was the cause, even when there is no real supporting evidence. The same thing occurred after news broke of James’ cardiac arrest. And billionaire Elon Musk further fueled such unfounded speculation when he tweeted or perhaps X’d, “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing. Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common,” as you can see here:
Yeah, it should be obvious that “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine.” For example, when you stub your toe on a life-sized Mark Zuckerberg figurine, you shouldn’t say, “Darn vaccine.” But beyond that, it’s important to remember that the data to date have shown myocarditis to be a rare side effect of Covid-19 mRNA vaccines and not a common one. Plus, no one actually taking care of James has implicated Covid-19 vaccines as a possible cause of his condition. And while Musk may be many things, he isn’t a medical doctor and was likely not directly involved in James’ care.
To understand how a cardiac arrest may happen, think of your heart as a Tesla vehicle, something that requires electrical signals to run. A cardiac arrest or a sudden cardiac arrest is when the electrical signals in your heart either cease or cease to remain coordinated enough to maintain a heart beat. In many cases, the “sudden” is redundant since your heart doesn’t tend to send you an Outlook calendar invite indicating, “Cardiac arrest planned next Wednesday at 2 pm.”
A cardiac arrest is a life-threatening medical emergency. You’ll never hear someone say, “I’m running a bit late to tour date as I’m having a cardiac arrest. Be there in 5.” When your heart cannot maintain a proper heart beat, it cannot pump blood that carries oxygen to your vital organs, including your brain.
A cardiac arrest can occur when the structures of your heart are perturbed enough to really mess up this electrical system in your heart. That can happen when the muscles of your heart get stretched out of shape (which is what happens with heart failure), grow too thick and big (which is called cardiomyopathy), or die (such as when your heart muscles get starved of blood and oxygen). In each of these case, the damage to your heart muscles has to be substantial and widespread enough to really disrupt the electrical systems.
Myocarditis can also lead to cardiac arrest but only if it is severe enough. The vast majority of myocarditis cases, though, do not end in cardiac arrest, especially if you are otherwise healthy. Myocarditis simply means inflammation of the heart muscle since “myo” means muscle, “card” stands for heart” and “itis” represents inflammation. A mild case of myocarditis is very different from a severe case. Again, myocarditis has been reported as a rare side effect from Covid-19 mRNA vaccination. And to date most such reported cases have been mild.
Other structure problems such heart valve defects or various congenital heart defects can also pre-dispose you to cardiac arrest. Certain medications and recreational drugs can lead to abnormal heart rhythms that can degenerate into cardiac arrest as well. Then there are abnormalities in the electrical system itself despite a normal heart structure, which is what can be seen in long QT syndrome (LQTS) and Brugada syndrome. So, yes, myocarditis is a possible cause of cardiac arrest. But it certainly is not the only possible cause or even the most common cause.
A congenital heart defect (CHD) is an abnormality of the heart that is present at birth. The word “congenital” means “present since birth,” which is why the insult “congenitally stupid” is so harsh. While the fetus is developing, tissues grow and move around to form the heart. When this process is somehow disrupted, CHDs can result.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes CHDs as “the most common type of birth defect.” There are many different types of CHDs, ranging from holes the heart (e.g., Atrial Septal Defects and Ventricular Septal Defects) to abnormal narrowing of the blood vessels leading to and from the heart (e.g., Coarctation of the Aorta and Pulmonary Atresia) to problems with the valves of the heart (e.g., Tricuspid Atresia) to abnormally large or small structures of the heart (e.g., Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) to structures being completely re-arranged (e.g., Transposition of the Great Arteries and Tetralogy of Fallot). These CHDs do vary in severity and not all of them bring the same risk of abnormal heart rhythms that could lead to cardiac arrest. To date, the doctors taking care of James haven’t yet specified which CHD he may have.
So, without further information, it’s difficult to speculate what type of treatment James may have undergone and is undergoing right now. Correction, it’s not difficult to speculate. Plenty of people and anonymous social media accounts seem to be speculating about other people’s medical conditions each and every day. After all, these days, who needs real information and facts to make claims on social media, right? It’s just that such speculation could be way off base and really serve no purpose Unless, of course, one’s purpose is to spread misinformation.
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