Chronic subdural haematoma associated with arachnoid cyst of the middle fossa in a soccer player: Case report and review of the literature
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Abstract
Introduction: Arachnoid cyst (AC) is a congenital, benign, extra-axial lesion often found incidentally on intracranial imaging and makes up almost 1% of all intracranial masses. It arises from the splitting of arachnoid membranes with components similar to the cerebrospinal fluid. It’s reported that AC can be complicated by chronic subdural haematoma in athletes with repeated head injuries.
Case report: we describe a case of a soccer player with an AC that underwent surgery for a chronic subdural haematoma with full recovery.
Material and method: From a PubMed research, we found 14 relevant studies reporting a total of 15 patients who met the inclusion criteria: playing soccer, subdural hematoma and arachnoid cyst.
Results: Patients underwent different surgical treatment. In the case of hygroma with no midline shift, a conservative treatment was performed. In all cases the reported follow up was a full recovery.
Discussion: Soccer is not usually considered a contact sport related to a high risk of head trauma or shaking head. From our review we can postulate that a soccer player with AC has an augmented risk to have a subdural haemorrhage, more rarely intracerebral haemorrhage.
Conclusion: ACs are common meningeal abnormalities. They may bleed after minor head trauma, although it is rare. Asymptomatic patients with known AC should be monitored by a neurosurgeon and decision to engage this patient in soccer sport participation is still controversial.
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