Soccer player Anthony Van Loo survives a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) when his ICD fires

Anthony Van Loo, a 20-year old soccer player (Roeselare Belgian first division) collapses during a match and is brought back to life by his Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). The device delivers a shock to restore his heart rhythm.

Most of the press has been reporting this as a heart attack. But this is not accurate. Instead of a heart attack, Van Loo must have suffered an arrhythmia, an electrical malfunction of the heart (like Ventricular Tachycardia or Ventricular Fibrillation). Ventricular Fibrillation is very dangerous and will lead to cardiac arrest.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is an abrupt loss of heart function that affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and is the leading cause of death in competitive athletes.

Van Loo is known to suffer from an unspecified heart condition that makes him susceptible to life-threatening arrhythmias. He's been allowed to return to playing soccer after the implantation of an ICD.