Phillip Hughes Death:
Doctors Reveal Cricket Ball Split his Artery, which led to 'Catastrophic' Bleeding on the Brain
Phillip Hughes died aged 25 after being hit on the head by a bouncer
- Doctors who treated Hughes say there had only been 100 cases before
- St Vincent's Hospital head of trauma Tony Grabs said he had never encountered the condition before
- Team doctor Peter Brukner said the injury was 'frequently fatal'
AP Australia, 27 November 2014
Doctors who treated Phillip Hughes after he was struck on the side of the head by a cricket ball have described the condition he died from as 'incredibly rare' and 'very freakish'.
Team doctor Peter Brukner said on Thursday that only a hundred cases of vertebral artery dissection had ever been reported.
Hughes died on Thursday aged 25 after being hit on the head by a cricket ball while playing for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
There's only one previous case ever reported as a result of a cricket ball,' Dr Brukner said.
St Vincent's Hospital head of trauma Tony Grabs said he had never encountered the condition before.
'We haven't seen this type of injury at this hospital, it's very rare, very freakish,' Dr Grabs said.
The ball hit Hughes on the side of his neck at Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday and compressed his verbal artery which carries blood to the brain.
It caused the artery to split and led to a 'massive bleed' in the brain, which Dr Brukner said was 'frequently fatal'.
Doctors said on Thursday only a hundred cases of vertebral artery dissection had ever been reported
Doctors who Treated Phillip Hughes Explain What Happened
Tragic....RIP Phillip
.