Stroke in a Young Swimmer

Abstract

Introduction:Arterial dissections are important causes of stroke in the young population. Dissection has been reported in association with some sports. It seems that this report is among the first ones of the cervical arterial dissection in a young swimmer.Case Presentation:A 30-year-old male professional swimmer with no history of any major disease suddenly complained of severe ataxia, moderate headache, neck pain, unilateral left facial weakness, and feelings of tingling and paresthesia on the left side of his body and face a few minutes following head and body stretching exercises in land. There was no history of major head or neck trauma, manipulation, and practicing diving skills in the past. Acute infarction of the left cerebellum was diagnosed after performing brain computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (with contrast) studies. Cervical magnetic resonance angiography confirmed left vertebral artery dissection as the cause of infarction.Conclusions:Important differential diagnoses of cervicocephalic arterial dissection include other vascular or neurological causes of head and neck pain and/or local neurological syndromes and other causes of brain ischemia such as cardiac emboli, atherosclerosis, and vasculopathy of brain vessels. It is important that sports medicine practitioners pay attention to this less-diagnosed cause of stroke in young athletes.

Recurrence of cervical artery dissection: protocol for a systematic review

“… 3 Cervical artery dissection is frequently associated with participation in sports and physical activity, presumably related to minor trauma or neck movements causing mechanical stretching of these vessels. 4 5 In case reports, cervical artery dissection has been associated with running, 6 7 swimming, 8 golf, 9 extreme conditioning programmes, 10 waterskiing 11 and volleyball, 12 among other examples. 4 …”