January 5, 2023 The latest updates on NFL star Damar Hamlin’s condition

Dr. Timothy Pritts, who is part of the team overseeing Damar Hamlin’s care, told CNN’s Dr. Tara Narula that the NFL player was turned onto his stomach because there was evidence that fluid could be backing up into his lungs.

“He did demonstrate evidence of ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome,” and that was the reason he was moved into the prone position, he said.

When a person’s heart is not beating well, fluid can sometimes back up into the lungs and make it hard for medical staff to oxygenate the patient. Doctors then turn the person on their stomach to make breathing easier.

Pritts and UC Health Dr. William Knight declined to provide details about Hamlin’s heart function, citing privacy reasons.

They did say that he underwent “targeted temperature management protocol” at the hospital. That measure involves cooling the patient’s body so it’s not demanding as much oxygenated blood. It’s typical after cardiac arrest.

Knight and Pritts also said physicians were not able to evaluate Hamlin for a concussion in a typical manner because he was sedated and is using a breathing tube, but said the player “does not have any physical or radiographic signs of head trauma.”

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin adjusts his chin strap during a game against the New England Patriots on December 1 in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

There has been a “remarkable improvement” in the health of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, his team said Thursday, with doctors saying the player’s “neurological condition and function is intact.”

If you’re just joining us, here are the major takeaways from today’s news conference at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Hamlin has been treated since he collapsed Monday night:

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin still has a way to go in his recovery, according to his doctors, and it’s too early to project the future. 

“He has a little ways to go in terms of liberation from the ventilator,” UC Health Dr. William Knight added. 

The player’s doctors said they’d like to get him off the ventilator as soon as possible, but every patient is different, and Hamlin will get all the support he needs for as long as he needs.

Hamlin’s family and teammates have been at his bedside since he has been hospitalized, Pritts said.

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin is still on a ventilator, his doctors said on Thursday. Hamlin is able to communicate in writing, but is not speaking.

When he began to wake up, the first question he wrote on a clipboard was, “Did we win?” 

UC Health Dr. William Knight said the immediate response following Hamlin’s collapse made a difference in how he is recovering.

Football fans pray outside the University of Cincinnati Medical Center where Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin receives care January 2 in Cincinnati.

The medical team at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center has been moved by the outpouring of support for Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, a doctor said Thursday.

“It’s been very powerful,” said Dr. William Knight, who serves as the lead physician and professor of emergency medicine at UC Health.

“We have been surrounded by a great … team. Dr. (Timothy) Pritts and I have been able to get to know this amazing family and this amazing organization, in a matter of 48 hours having friends and having family,” Knight said.

Fans hold a candlelight vigil for Damar Hamlin on January 3 outside the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Cincinnati.

“But then looking outside, I mean all I have to do is look over my left shoulder, and I see vigils and posters and well-wishers, and the food that has showed up at the hospital for the support for the family, and for the emergency department and for the surgical ICU team,” the doctor continued.

Asked if Hamlin was aware of the outpouring of support, both doctors speaking to the media replied in unison: “He’s learning it today.”

Doctors at the University of Cicinnati Medical Center shared a lot of information on Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s condition.

CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains what it all means:

Physicians for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin said Thursday that he has “ways to go” after he suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field on Monday night during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Asked if the 24-year-old football player would be able to fully recover, Pritts said that it’s too early to predict.

“The focus right now in terms of helping him to recover, liberate (from the ventilator) and continue to get stronger and rehabilitate, but it is entirely too early to project into the future,” said Dr. Timothy Pritts of UC health.

Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin, left, and Jordan Poyer run onto the field before the Bills' game against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 2 in Cincinnati.

UC Health doctors said Damar Hamlin has even asked who had won the game between his Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals in which he suffered cardiac arrest.

Hamlin has not spoken yet, said Dr. Timothy Pritts, so Hamlin’s communication has all been through writing.

“When he asked, ‘did we win?,’ the answer is, yes, you know, Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life and that’s probably the important thing out of this, and we really need to keep him in the center of everything else that’s going on, and we really want to ensure a good outcome for him,” he said.

Dr. William Knight, left, and Dr. Timothy Pritts from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center share an update on Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin via videoconference Thursday afternoon.

Officials at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center outlined the emergency response from the time Damar Hamlin collapsed during the Buffalo Bills game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The hospital’s director of emergency medicine, Dr. William Knight, said a “significant number of care team” was present at the game and were “involved in helping with Mr. Hamlin on the field on Monday night.”

That included four of the hospital’s emergency physicians in various roles, along with medical staff from both teams.

Knight credited the Buffalo Bills medical staff for quickly recognizing the safety had suffered a cardiac arrest, saying “that allowed for a very immediate resuscitation on the field.”

“He was promptly resuscitated. It did require CPR and defibrillation,” Knight said during a news conference Thursday.

At that point, he was rushed to the hospital.

“He was managed and resuscitated and worked up in the emergency department, had some additional tests in the ED and in the hospital, and then has been managed in the surgical ICU,” Knight said.

When asked about a specific cause of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, a University of Cincinnati doctor said tests are still underway to determine it.

“The answer to that is that that workup is ongoing. We do not have definitive answers as to the etiology of the arrest, and tests will continues to progress,” said Dr. William Knight, lead physician and professor of emergency medicine at UC Health.

Knight said they aren’t ruling out commotio cordis, but it is too soon to tell without further testing.

Commotio cordis — when severe trauma to the chest disrupts the heart’s electrical charge and causes dangerous fibrillations – is an “incredibly rare event that happens. It’s also a diagnosis of exclusion in our world, which basically means we have to rule out many other more common or more deadly or more fixable type conditions before we can settle in on an ultimate diagnosis such as that,” said Knight.

Due to privacy concerns, Hamlin’s doctors repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about results of tests Hamlin is undergoing.

Doctors said review is still pending, and they weren’t able to provide detailed answers about how long Hamlin received CPR, Hamlin’s current oxygen level, whether an echocardiogram done, whether Hamlin has seen a specialist about underlying rhythmic or genetic causes, or whether there was damage to other organs such as the kidneys or liver.