Volume 209 - Issue 3
Traumatic cricket-related fatalities in Australia: a historical review of media reports
Author: Adam Morton
Med J Aust 2018; 209 (3): 142. || doi: 10.5694/mja18.00401
Published online: 6 August 2018
Published online: 6 August 2018
To the Editor:
I read with interest the article by Brukner and colleagues1 on traumatic cricket-related fatalities in Australia, which describes two autopsy-confirmed deaths due to subarachnoid haemorrhage following vertebral artery dissection, with a further 11 deaths suspected to be secondary to this condition. Two recent articles described a total of 230 cases of carotid or vertebral artery dissection temporally related to 45 different sports or recreational activities.2,3 The majority of episodes of arterial dissection were related to non-contact sports, including jogging, walking, swimming, golf, basketball, tennis and scuba diving. The mean age of patients was 35 years. The mechanism of non-traumatic dissection is thought to relate to shearing stress on the arterial wall with sudden neck rotation. Thus arterial dissection in golfers affected the right side in 11 of 14 patients (79%), and involved the posterior circulation in 12 of 14 patients (86%).4 Controversy regarding the association between neck manipulation and arterial dissection persists, although a retrospective case–control study found an odds ratio of 12.8 for prior neck manual therapy in individuals aged 55 years or less presenting with craniocervical arterial dissection.5 Arterial dissection may also occur spontaneously, the risk being increased in the setting of systemic lupus erythematosus, other connective tissue disorders, migraine and in the postpartum period. It is important that health professionals recognise that arterial dissection may occur spontaneously or as a result of non-contact sports and activities, and that persons of any age presenting with symptoms suggestive of anterior or posterior circulation ischaemia require urgent review and neuroimaging.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Brukner P, Gara TJ, Fortington LV. Traumatic cricket-related fatalities in Australia: a historical review of media reports. Med J Aust 2018; 208: 261-264.
- Schlemm L, Nolte CH, Engelter ST, et al. Cervical artery dissection after sports — an analytical evaluation of 190 published cases. Eur Stroke J 2017; 2: 335-345.
- Fragoso YD, Adoni T, do Amaral LL, et al. Cerebrum-cervical arterial dissection in adults during sports and recreation. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2016; 74: 275-279.
- Choi MH, Hong JM, Lee JS, et al. Preferential location for arterial dissection presenting as golf-related stroke. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2014; 35: 323-326.
- Thomas LC, Rivett DA, Attia JR, et al. Risk factors and clinical features of craniocervical arterial dissection. Man Ther 2011; 16: 351-356.
Motor Neuron Disease Mortality Trends in Australia From 1986 to 2023: A Population-Based Study
Carol M. Y. Lee, Rupendra N. Shrestha, Julian Gold, Mark Stevenson, Kelly L. Williams, Lyndal Henden, Sandrine K. K. Chan Moi Fat, Zoe Zussa, Amanda Wright, Martin Jude, Mark A. S. Laidlaw, Willem J. R. Fokkink, Dominic B. Rowe
Mild traumatic brain injury and concussion and persisting post‐concussion symptoms: new guidelines to support evidence‐based assessment and management in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
Karen M Barlow, Jennie L Ponsford, Alice Theodom, Gill Cowen, Gavin A Davis, Vicki Anderson, Franz E Babl, David Cole, Jennifer Cullen, Stuart R Dalziel, Melinda Fitzgerald, Howard Flavell, Caroline Yates, Rebecca Kimble, John H Olver, Rhonda Orr, Mark Ralfe, Michael Rose, Nick Rushworth, Julia Treleaven, Gary Browne, Nathan Delang, Sarah Harris, Gary Mitchell, Sean Tweedy
The prevalence of and variation in indicators of the quality and safety of long term aged care in Australia, 2019: a cross‐sectional population‐based study
Tesfahun C Eshetie, Gillian E Caughey, Catherine Lang, Olivia Ryan, Renuka Visvanathan, Craig Whitehead, Keith Evans, Janet K Sluggett, Jyoti Khadka, Carolyn Dawkins, Helena Williams, Miranda Starke, Sara Blunt, Anne Liddell, Megan Corlis, Anna Sheppeard, Penelope Lello, Marilyn Thien, Steven L Wesselingh, Maria C Inacio
Health and economic benefits of improving pre‐hospital identification of stroke in Australian women: a modelling study
Thomas Gadsden, Lei Si, Emily R Atkins, Cheryl Carcel, Xia Wang, Stephen Jan, Mark Woodward, Laura E Downey
Symptom burden, quality of life, and diagnostic journey of people with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, Australia, 2021–24: a descriptive patient registry data study
Marie‐Claire Seeley, Gemma Wilson, Eric Ong, Amy Langdon, Jonathan Chieng, Danielle Bailey, Kristina Comacchio, Amanda Page, Dennis H Lau, Celine Gallagher
The intersection of rurality and dementia prevalence in Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‐Indigenous peoples
Antonia J Clarke, Marwan Ahmed, Judith M Katzenellenbogen, John Towney (Wiradjuri), Anna H Balabanski, Adrienne Withall (Dharawal Yuin), Kylie Radford, Amy Brodtmann