Case Report
Volume 2 Issue 1
Florence Koeke Manyim*, Guy Ndel, Sandrine Eddie, Alain Patrick Menanga, Gloria Ashuntantang and Samuel Kingue
December 23, 2022
Abstract
Syncope is one of the rare but serious heart attacks occurring in an athlete during a semi-marathon race. The aim of this case report is to bring awareness of such accidents to the sports community in sub–Saharan Africa where little is published about syncope in athletes. We are reporting the case of a 31-year-old Cameroonian half-marathoner with no contributing past medical history, and whose Precompetition medical assessment (PCMA) performed 48 hours before the race was normal. The young man started the race at a favorable temperature of 26°C at 6 AM in Yaounde. An hour prior to the beginning of the race, the semi-marathoner drank without medical advice 66cl of a caffeine-based energy drink. After 17 kilometers of running without oral rehydration (out of medical advice), he abandoned the race, due to intense physical asthenia, constrictive pain under the diaphragmatic muscle, dizziness, palpitations, then fall from its height occurring 30 minutes after stopping the race with the spontaneous recovery of the state of consciousness a few minutes later during his medical transportation to the Emergency center of Yaounde were the early management showed a conscious, restless athlete with stable hemodynamic parameters: BP: 116/53mmhg, Regular and symmetric pulses at 63 pulsations/minute, Regular Respiratory Rate: 22 cycles per minute, the Body temperature of 37,8°C, Blood saturation (SaO2) of 94% in ambient air, Glycemia on the spot found at 1,03 g/l. The resting 12 leads Electrocardiography done at the emergency unit was like that of the PCMA excluding the absence of bradycardia. Doppler echocardiography is normal, as well as Troponin that was done 12 hours (H12) after the beginning of chest pain. So far, the working diagnosis was syncope due to a probable coronary Vaso spasm following the ingestion of a stimulant substance in the context of acute dehydration and intense physical exertion. The possibility of a paroxysmal rhythm disorder was still to be excluded.
Keywords: Athlete; Semi-marathon; caffeine-based stimulant drink; acute dehydration; athlete's heart