Squash injury to the internal carotid artery

Non-pene t r a t ing injuries of the carot id a r te ry are ra re bu t have been apprecia ted for over a cen tu ry 1 and subsequent reviews have accumula t ed approx imate ly one -hundred cases. 2, 3 Whils t the ma jo r i ty are associa ted wi th forceful t r auma , infrequent ly these injur ies follow mild t r a u m a to the neck and can have a p ro tean mode of presenta t ion . 2 The deve lopment of such an in ju ry in a y o u n g m a n whi ls t p laying squash is described and the pa thophys io logy discussed.