FLORENCE: Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove is to have a removable heart starter device implanted following his recent collapse during a Serie A game, Italian media repo­rts said on Monday.

Bove, who collapsed on the pitch during Fioren­tina’s home game with Inter Milan on Dec. 1 leading to the abandonment of the match, will have the operation on Tuesday which is part of the medical protocol before he can be discharged from hospital.

The Implantable Cardio­verter Defibrillator (ICD), a type of pacemaker which can prevent fatal cardiac arrests by discharging a jolt to restore a regular heart rhythm, is not permitted in Serie A.

Once all the results of the medical examinations carried out in recent days on the 22-year-old Italian have been collected, Bove can then decide whether to ha­ve the device removed, whi­ch would allow him return to play in the Italian league.

Denmark’s Christian Er­i­k­sen was unable to continue playing for Inter Milan after having an ICD fitted following his cardiac arrest in 2021 during a European Championship match and he later joined Brentford after the Serie A club terminated his contract.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024