San Antonio Spurs basketball star Victor Wembanyama has been sidelined for the rest of the season by a rare type of blood clot that is more likely to develop in elite athletes, experts say.
What Is Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)?
While it can happen at any age, it’s more common among people over 60. Other risk factors include a family history of blood clots, a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, pregnancy, and recent surgery.
Why Elite Athletes Have a Higher DVT Risk
“A blood clot in a healthy person in their arm is actually seen with some frequency in elite athletes,” says Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann, MD, a professor of interventional radiology at Stanford School of Medicine in California. “We call it ‘effort vein thrombosis.’ We have seen it in elite swimmers, volleyball players, weightlifters, and basketball players. Believe it or not, if a healthy elite athlete is going to have a blood clot, it is typically in this location.”
In a sense, it’s a type of overuse injury, Dr. Hofmann says. Elite athletes build up muscle in their arms to help them excel at their sport, and the added muscle can crowd nearby veins, causing them to narrow and making clots more likely to develop.
Deep vein thrombosis caused by compression in the blood vessels in the upper extremities “is more common in athletes, especially if the DVT is in their dominant arm,” says Scott Cameron, MD, PhD, a cardiologist and the section head of vascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
How Is DVT Treated?
Athletes with deep vein thrombosis in the arm or shoulder would typically be treated with blood thinners, Dr. Cameron says. They should also get evaluated for a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), which can sometimes be caused by an extra rib or connective tissue and can be treated with surgery, Dr. Cameron adds.
In some cases, athletes with upper extremity DVT may also undergo a procedure to remove the clot. If another clot develops, athletes might get surgery to remove the first rib and insert a tiny balloon in the blood vessel to open it up, Hofmann says.
Athletes who play any type of contact sport may have to sit out competition while they’re taking blood thinners because there’s a severe bleeding risk if they sustain a head injury in a fall or collision with another player, Hofmann says.
“You can die, which is why you can’t do contact sports,” Hofmann says. “You can practice with the team, do shooting drills, and maintain weight lifting. You just can’t risk a head injury in a game.”