Journal of Pain Research (Apr 2020)

Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome in a Young Baseball Pitcher: A Case Report

  • Huang WC,
  • Tsai MM,
  • Chang TL,
  • Lai CL

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 777 – 781

Abstract

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Wei-Ching Huang,1,* Ming-Miau Tsai,1,* Tzu-Ling Chang,1 Chung-Liang Lai1,2 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taichung, Taiwan; 2Department of Occupational Therapy, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chung-Liang LaiDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taichung Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, 199 San Min Road, Sec. 1, Taichung, Taiwan 403, TaiwanEmail [email protected]: Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (PAES) is a rare disease in young adults and is thought to be under-diagnosed, and its main cause is the abnormal structure between the popliteal artery and gastrocnemius muscle. The patients experience symptoms after the blood vessels are compressed. Failure to diagnose and treat PAES can cause serious sequelae.Case: A 19-year-old male baseball pitcher with PAES type 2 suffered from left calf muscle tension and foot numbness and was mis-diagnosed for nearly a year. Finally, the lesion was detected by ultrasonography and confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. After surgical intervention, he quickly returned to sport.Discussion/Conclusion: PAES has 6 types. Type 2 (25%) and type 3 (30%) are the most common. Patients with this syndrome suffer from aching pain, numbness, and cramping in the calf area when they exercise. It is necessary to include this disease in differential diagnosis to implement early diagnosis, and ultrasonography is a more cheap and simple method for early detection.Keywords: popliteal artery entrapment syndrome, intermittent claudication

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