Chicago, United States, Feb 21 (EFE).- Victor Wembanyama is out of the remaining NBA season due to deep vein thrombosis, a news that shook the basketball world in the United States. The condition was detected in the 21-year-old – considered a generational talent who was San Antonio Spurs’ first absolute pick in the 2023 draft – in the right shoulder after last weekend’s All-Star.
“There are not many details known and it is important to be careful before making hasty conclusions. In general, a thrombosis in the upper arm is very rare. Only 10 percent of these mishaps are recorded in that area of the body. It usually occurs from trauma, an injury in some form, but it can also be metabolic,” Hythem Shadid, doctor and sports medicine surgeon at Genesis Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Chicago, explained to EFE.
“Many times athletes do not have the luxury of time to recover,” added Shadid, who has enjoyed a successful career in sports medicine for over 30 years, working with elite sportsmen in the US soccer team as well as different university teams.
“The first thing is to get an anticoagulant to be sure that the clot does not move. There is no guarantee that it will not reach the lungs, and if it does it can have serious complications,” the specialist told EFE.
“There are several ways to remove the clot. It is usually treated with an anticoagulant,” he said, adding that a venogram is usually performed to understand exactly where the clot is. “The treatment depends on how large the clot is. One of the possible measures includes having a small device through the vein to remove the clot from the area.”
Shadid underlined that someone as young as 21 years suffering from this condition is extremely rare, and it was important for medical staff to know if he has undergone any surgery before or suffered any major injury. “These are problems that are not taken lightly.”
Although this type of problem is very rare, Wembanyama is not the first NBA player to face it. Chris Bosh, double champion with the Miami Heat, ended up retiring from the NBA in 2017 after suffering from clots in 2015 and 2016.
Brandon Ingram, who now plays for the Toronto Raptors, missed 19 games in the 2018-19 season due to a similar problem. EFE
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