Roller coaster headache and subdural hematoma

Abstract

Riding giant roller coasters may increase the risk of subdural hematomas. There have been three recent case reports on the topic.1–3 A 26-year-old man developed bilateral subdural hematomas after riding a double-loop, corkscrew-type roller coaster.1 A 64-year-old hypertensive man had headaches after his first roller-coaster ride and developed a left-sided chronic subdural hematoma after 11 more rides. These two cases had successful surgical evacuation.1–2 A fatal outcome was reported in a 73-year-old man being treated with warfarin.3 This patient developed a left-sided subdural hematoma and a parenchymal temporal hematoma 5 days after a roller-coaster ride. Despite surgery, he died 13 days later. We report the new case of a previously healthy woman who developed headaches and bilateral chronic subdural hematomas after a series of roller-coaster rides. A 24-year-old Japanese woman visited our hospital with a headache of 4 days duration. She was otherwise in good health and did not previously have headaches. …