The Danish soccer federation will investigate the deaths of two players after a television documentary linked their heart failures to the use of painkillers.
The documentary, which aired Wednesday on national broadcaster DR, suggested painkillers could explain many mysterious soccer-related deaths in recent years. The report focused on four cases, including those of Danish players Claus Henningsen and Rasmus Green.
Heart experts not affiliated with the report said it was impossible to draw any conclusions from such a small sample, and called for further medical investigations.
The show, ``When Death Plays Along,'' found that the four players had used anti-inflammatory drugs, known as NSAIDs, before they died. The show specifically named ibuprofen and diclofenac, also known as Voltaren. Such drugs are known to raise the risk of heart failure, although this is generally in people already prone to cardiac problems.
The program looked into the deaths of Hungary international Miklos Feher, who collapsed during a Portuguese league match in 2004, Henningsen and Green and Kjartan Ellingsen of Norway.
Danish soccer federation chairman Allan Hansen said Thursday medical experts would review the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the two Danes and ``make a report which we can discuss and adopt an attitude to internally.''
Danish team doctor Mogens Kreutzfeldt said it was ``possible'' that there was ``an inexpedient use of (NSAIDs) among players,'' but stressed that the national team prohibits players from taking painkillers before a game.
In the documentary, the doctor who did the autopsy on Henningsen, a 27-year-old on the amateur team of Otterup, said the use of NSAIDs could have contributed to the player's death.
``It is likely that the substances make the coronary narrow so there is not enough oxygen to the heart muscles,'' pathologist Joergen Lange Thomsen said. ``A violent contraction of the coronary could possibly result in a sudden death like the one of Claus Henningsen.''
On Sept. 12, a review published on the website of the Journal of the American Medical Association showed diclofenac carries an increased heart attack risk. The review suggested that regular use of this drug could increase the risk of heart failure, but also noted that problems were usually restricted to older patients with multiple health problems, such as pre-existing heart or kidney disease.
Jon Karlsson, who heads the Swedish Football Association's medical committee, was skeptical of the documentary findings, saying studies indicate that nearly all soccer players who have died on the field had genetic heart problems.
``We don't have any indication that (painkillers) have been the cause,'' Karlsson said. ``I am pretty skeptical that this would be the only explanation.
``I think it is a serious simplification.''
In February, FIFA said it planned to establish a medical research centre in response to a series of heart-related deaths on soccer fields around the world.
The latest death occurred Aug. 31, when Egypt defender Mohammed Abdelwahab died of a heart attack after collapsing while practising with his club Al Ahly.
