Version of recordOriginal research
Traumatic Carotid Artery Dissection Following a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Chokehold
A Case Report
Patricia Martinet, Olivia G Holloway, Constantine C Phatouros, William Wallefeld, David Prentice. 2025. Cureus.
Published in Cureus, a peer-reviewed journal
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.91604
Read the full text at PubMed CentralPDF filesPubMed 41050039
The medical question
How can an injury to a neck artery after a chokehold show itself, and what did it take to recognise it?
The Fight Medicine Research Institute uses this evidence to frame questions about how injuries to the neck arteries after chokeholds are recognised, including symptoms that appear days later. It is a report of one patient, which determines which questions it can inform.
Summary
A previously healthy 37-year-old man had brief stroke symptoms seven days after being held in a chokehold during Brazilian jiu-jitsu sparring, and scans showed a tear in the wall of a neck artery and a small stroke.
What the work reports
- The authors describe one patient. During jiu-jitsu training he suddenly developed numbness and weakness of the left side of the face and the left arm. A doctor at the scene found a left facial droop and a weak left handgrip. The symptoms had largely resolved when he reached the emergency department about 45 minutes later. Seven days earlier a teammate had placed him in a rear naked choke during sparring, and he had not lost consciousness.
- A CT scan of the brain was reported as normal. CT angiography showed a small dissection (a tear in the inner wall) of the right internal carotid artery with a blood clot attached, and MRI showed a small recent infarct, an area of brain damaged by loss of blood supply. He was started on aspirin and advised to avoid strenuous exercise. A repeat CT angiogram at eight weeks showed that the vessel had healed, and aspirin was stopped.
- The authors conclude that carotid artery dissection can follow neck trauma such as a chokehold, with symptoms that may be delayed and subtle, and that a detailed history and early vascular imaging are needed to diagnose it in young patients with sudden neurological symptoms. They note that the same injury can follow non-fatal strangulation in assault or domestic violence.
Limits to keep in mind
- This is a report of one patient. It cannot show how often chokeholds lead to dissection of a neck artery.
- The authors identify the chokehold as the likely cause from the patient’s history. One case cannot establish cause.
- Follow-up ended with the repeat scan at eight weeks. The report does not say whether the patient returned to training.
Source issues recorded
- Crossref’s record for this DOI holds no volume, issue, page or licence. Those details are taken from the article in PubMed Central and from Europe PMC. The article states the licence as CC-BY 4.0 and gives no link. Europe PMC records it as CC BY without a version.
Publication status and notices
Published in Cureus, a peer-reviewed journal. Case report in Cureus.
Form of this work: Version of record. The version of record is the final article as issued by its publisher.
No correction or retraction notice was found in Crossref or Europe PMC when this record was checked.
Fight Medicine Research Institute contribution
Fight Medicine Research Institute selected and catalogued this study, prepared an original research summary, verified its bibliographic details, and maintains the associated citation record.
PDF files
- Open the record sheet (PDF): Traumatic carotid artery dissection following a Brazilian jiu-jitsu chokehold
- Full text at PubMed Central: Traumatic carotid artery dissection following a Brazilian jiu-jitsu chokehold
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Article details
- Relationship
- External research catalogued by the Fight Medicine Research Institute. The original authors, journal and DOI are unchanged.
- Published online
- No online date in the publisher’s Crossref deposit
- Issue date
- 4 September 2025, volume 17, issue 9
- Repository date
- 4 September 2025 (Europe PMC first-publication date)
- Date used here
- 4 September 2025 (Europe PMC first-publication date)
- Rights
- CC BY 4.0. Open access under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0), as stated in the article and recorded by Europe PMC. The summary on this page is Fight Medicine Research Institute’s own wording. No text or figure from the article is reproduced here. Licence terms.
- Source check
- , against PubMed Central full text, Crossref and Europe PMC. Checked under the direction of Casey C. Sears, Founder. An LLM was utilized as a research tool with direct human oversight.
- Appraisal
- The check covered bibliographic details, links, licence and notices. It is not a formal critical appraisal of the full paper.
- Clinical review
- None. This record is a research summary, not clinical education.
- Funding and conflicts
- The authors declare that no financial support was received for the work and that they have no financial or other relationships that could appear to have influenced it.
- Catalog
- FH-069, added
Cite the original work
These files cite the work by its own authors, journal and DOI. Fight Medicine Research Institute appears only in a note, as curator of this catalog page.
Patricia Martinet, Olivia G Holloway, Constantine C Phatouros, William Wallefeld, David Prentice. Traumatic Carotid Artery Dissection Following a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Chokehold: A Case Report. Cureus. 2025;17(9):e91604. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.91604
Related on this website
- Research priority: Emergency response
- Fighter Health: Emergency care and return to competition