Tom Lockyer: Luton captain out of hospital and recovering at home after cardiac arrest

Lockyer has been fitted with an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) device, which is intended to prevent a repeat of the incident which saw him collapse on the pitch during Luton's Premier League match against Bournemouth on Saturday

Thursday 21 December 2023 15:01, UK

Luton captain Tom Lockyer has been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home after he suffered a cardiac arrest during a Premier League match last weekend.

Lockyer underwent a procedure in which he was fitted with an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) device, which is intended to prevent a repeat of the incident which saw him collapse on the pitch in the 59th minute of Saturday's Premier League match against Bournemouth.

Luton said the 29-year-old Lockyer has now begun a period of rehabilitation at his own home in the wake of the incident, which they said was unrelated to his previous collapse in the Championship play-off final in May.

A club statement read: «We can now confirm that the tests taken this week had revealed that the issue Tom experienced on Saturday was different to the atrial fibrillation he suffered in May.»

According to the British Heart Foundation, an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is a small device that can treat people with dangerously abnormal heart rhythms.

It sends electrical pulses to regulate these rhythms, especially those that could be dangerous and cause a cardiac arrest.

If an ICD notices a dangerous heart rhythm it can deliver one or more of the following treatments:

Pacing — a series of low-voltage electrical impulses (paced beats) at a fast rate to try and correct the heart rhythm.

Cardioversion — one or more small electric shocks to try and restore the heart to a normal rhythm.

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