Egan, 25, has had numerous surgeries on the navicular bone he injured in the round 22 clash against the Brisbane Lions in 2007, but the foot remains sore and he has limited motion in the area of the injury.
The specialist, based in Sydney, this week told Egan that he fears for the defender's long term health if he continues to attempt to rehabilitate the foot in an effort to resume his 59-game career.
General manager of football operations Neil Balme pledged the club's support to the injured star, who remains contracted for next season, but admitted Egan would be forced to consider his options after receiving this latest setback.
"Does he want to keep the dream alive or does he want to accept that he needs to do something to make sure that the rest of his life is fairly normal? That’s probably over-dramatising it a little bit, but I think that's probably where he is over the next couple of weeks," Balme said from Skilled Stadium on Wednesday.
"I think what we're looking at is two things. One is just being a citizen and being alive and wandering around and doing all the things that he might do with kids in the future etc, and the other is actually playing AFL footy – and I think that's the challenge. I think they're saying that he might not be able to get back to a position where he can do that justice.
"I think maybe it's time to consider whether he does that or whether he just makes sure he looks after himself for a normal life, and I think that's probably part of the decision-making that will be in front of him."
Egan won All-Australian honours in 2007, but missed playing in the Cats' premiership and did not play a game in 2008. Balme said that while the defender had handled the disappointment of his prolonged stint on the sidelines well, the latest gloomy medical analysis was a bitter pill for Egan to swallow.
"He's a young man and [should] have a lot of footy in front of him and he's playing in a great team, so he'll be bitterly disappointed if he can't go on," he said.
"He said it really hadn't hit him as yet, but I think the fact that he's missed a full season, he's probably had enough time to think 'maybe I'm not going to play again', so I think that's probably been in his mind a bit.
"But it will be a shock and I'm sure over the next couple of days it will probably hit him and he'll be a bit emotional about it. Again, we haven't completely given up on it, but if you were betting on it you'd say that he's not going to be able to get up."
