March Madness Associated Deep Vein Thrombosis

March Madness officially started last night. In fact, as I am typing this I am watching Iona take on BYU (great comeback BYU!). This is a great time of year for any college basketball fan because you have several days in which most of the time is taken up with continuous games. This means lots of opportunity to sit or lay down for prolonged time periods. Remaining immobile for long time periods, however, can cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which is clot formation in a deep vein. If this clot dislodges, it can be fatal in about 3% of cases in which the clot came from the lower extremity.

While DVT formation can be caused by any form of prolonged inactivity, one group of clinicians at Walter Reed Army Medical Center reported a case of March Madness associated DVT formation in an 83-year-old man. One of the signs of a DVT is edema (swelling), which was first noticed in this man after a full day of sitting and watching March Madness. He had recurrent prostate cancer which was felt to be contributory to the DVT, but that prolonged sitting from watching March Madness was a significant contributory factor to clot formation. Patients with a hypercoaguable state (blood disorder leading to clot formation) increases the risk further. The authors recommended the following steps to prevent DVT formation: decreased alcohol and caffeine intake, drinking a liberal amount of water and fluids, and standing at regular intervals to stretch and promote circulation.

Reference: South Med J. 2005;98(3):396. March madness-associated deep vein thrombosis. Wilson RL, Ritter JB, Roy MJ