ISTANBUL — A report in the medical journal Pediatric describes how a 9-year-old boy's heart stopped beating after he began eating a hot dog in Istanbul, Turkey.
He was later resuscitated.
Choking can lead to cardiac arrest in children, but in this case medical staff found the hotdog stimulated the boy's vagus nerve, which in turn triggered an abnormal rhythm that caused his heart to stop.
Upon further investigation and an electrocardiogram, he was found to have a rare life-threatening heart rhythm condition known as Brugada Syndrome.
The child was later implanted with a defibrillator to help regulate the abnormal heart rhythms via electrical impulses.