skip to content
Dovepress - Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research
View our mobile site

8852

Intercavernous portion of internal carotid artery occlusion resulting from snowboarding

Case report

(1690) Views  (989) Full article downloads

Authors: Sudiptamohan Mukhopadhyay, Awen Iorwerth

Published Date April 2010 Volume 2010:3 Pages 31 - 34
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/IMCRJ.S8182

Sudiptamohan Mukhopadhyay1, Awen Iorwerth2

1Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK; 2Department of Orthopaedics, Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Wales, UK

Abstract: A 33-year-old gentleman who was otherwise fit and healthy suffered repetitive low impact head injuries while snowboarding in Austria over a period of one week. During the fall he had several hyperextension injuries and presented with headache, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness (felt ‘drunk’ on Friday night despite not being drunk), diplopia, abnormal pupillary signs. A Horner’s syndrome was diagnosed and on investigation, the left intercavernous portion of internal carotid artery (ICA) was found to be thrombosed. The symptoms gradually settled after conservative treatment for a month. Blunt head trauma is a recognized cause of carotid dissection and thrombosis and many neuromechanics studies have attempted to calculate the wall shear stress involved. Physicians treating snowboarders should be aware of the condition and should look for Horner’s syndrome and consider the possibility of carotid occlusion. With a thorough PubMed, Ovid, EMBASE search using ‘snowboarding’, ‘carotid dissection’, ‘Horner’s syndrome’ no such case was found to be reported. Proper training for such sport activities is essential to avoid serious consequences.

Keywords: snowboarding, carotid dissection, Horner’s syndrome






 

Other articles by Mr Mukhopadhyay



Readers of this article also read:

Antihypertensive effects of astaxanthin
Impact of dyslipidemia on cardiovascular risk stratification of hypertensive patients and association of lipid profile with other cardiovascular risk factors: results from the ICEBERG study
Cuff inflation during ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and heart rate
Role of aliskiren in cardio-renal protection and use in hypertensives with multiple risk factors
Nonischemic ST segment elevation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy due to chest wall deformity from kyphoscoliosis
Erratum
Perception of risk and benefit in patient-centered communication and care
The relationship between deliberate self-harm behavior, body dissatisfaction, and suicide in adolescents: current concepts
Zinc oxide nanoparticles as selective killers of proliferating cells
Cumulative clinical experience from over a decade of use of levofloxacin in community-acquired pneumonia: critical appraisal and role in therapy