massiveboy Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Hi All, Anyone know about this "cyclist iliac syndrome" ? well after 6 months of scans, nerve test ect an Angiogram picked up a narrowing of the external iliac artery. I am going for angioplasty surgery next monday basically they are going to balloon the artery up and hope it lasts, for how long we dont know. The other option, surgically is a full graft or patch procedure which is pretty invasive. Anyone have experience with this?
V12man Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 What were your symtoms to cause you to have all the testing done? What is the extent of the narrowing?
massiveboy Posted August 15, 2012 Author Posted August 15, 2012 About 8 - 9 months ago my left leg felt weaker or more tired then the right, I put it down to tandem riding cause as the captain the chain tension in on the left. Silly i suppose! It seemed to go away during Dec 2011 and Jan of this year however thereafter I started to notice that when I rode hard my left thigh and calf seemed to get very tense including tightness in my glut. I went to a sports Doc and he sent me to a bio for some strengthening work, this did not work so I did some research and came up with all sorts of things like Pirformis syndrome and nerve damage ect ect. a chiropractor sent me to a Neurologists had MRI scans on my back, Nerve conduction tests and nothing. At Sani this year I was dragged around like a rag doll and really knew that something was really wrong, it was as if the leg was not getting enough blood. The second Neurologists and Vascular Surgeon I saw got quite involved and sent me for doppler tests more CT scans and an Angiogram, the angiogram showed the left iliac artery narrowed by about 3mm then after an exercise induced blood pressure test it was clear that the drop in pressure during exercise was not normal. The first Vascular surgeon I went to simply said "well stop" why do you want to ride a bike anyway - naturally I walked out quickly. It is a very well know issue in endurance athletes and mostly is cyclists. Theo Bos, Stuart o Grady ect. long and frustrating but at leased I have an answer .
urbanroyal Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Interesting ...thanx for sharing,all the best for your op.
V12man Posted August 15, 2012 Posted August 15, 2012 Interesting - I read an article on it a few months ago - never seen one in over 20 years. Best of luck - hope you have some sucess with this and you will be at Sani next year in better form.
Flemish Lion Posted October 12, 2012 Posted October 12, 2012 My Doc in consultation with the specialist confirmed yesterday I have iliac artery endofibrosis... I can only see the specialist next week though! I've been struggling with a lack of high intensity power for a while, especially this last year. Until last week Wednesday when I lost all power in my left leg and the Doc confirmed my left leg has no pulse! I wish I had read about this injury a few years back, it is VERY hard to come to the conclusion that the lack of power is due to limited blood supply to my muscles! For years I assumed my training just wasn't intense enough! I had good and bad races, so the cause wasn't obvious. My last few races had been extremely pathetic, so I'm glad we determined the cause! How many years of cycling have I wasted...
gummibear Posted October 12, 2012 Posted October 12, 2012 How many years of cycling have I wasted...Hope you both get this sorted out soon You rode at the Olympics and came 11th...so how is it wasted?
Flemish Lion Posted October 12, 2012 Posted October 12, 2012 Hope you both get this sorted out soon You rode at the Olympics and came 11th...so how is it wasted? Maybe the funride olympics Thanks for the support, for now I go snail pace (walking only) as the legs gets little blood!
gummibear Posted October 12, 2012 Posted October 12, 2012 Maybe the funride olympics Thanks for the support, for now I go snail pace (walking only) as the legs gets little blood! Does cycling cause this or is it caused by something else?I know a few guys that have had nerve damage from TT bikes but never heard of this before.
SwissVan Posted October 12, 2012 Posted October 12, 2012 I dont mean to be a scare monger but didn't Ryan Cox have a similar issue that went bad after surgery to fix it? @Massiveboy - any further news?@ Flemmish - Good luck hope it all works out Edit:Ryan Cox (9 April 1979 – 1 August 2007) was a South African professional road racing cyclist. He had been cycling since 1987 but turned professional in 2000. He first joined Amore e Vita but changed, the following year to Team Cologne which was based in Germany. He had been a member of Team Barloworld since 2003. Cox died at Kempton Park Hospital when the main artery in his left leg burst, three weeks after a vascular lesion operation in France for a knotted artery
Flemish Lion Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Here are some interesting articles EVERY cyclist should read as to make sure they don't suffer from this! I'm NOT looking forward to having the operation! Yes, the Ryan Cox passing is rather scary! Stuart was in surgery for four hours so the surgeons could remove the "kinked bit" and in hospital for a week. "You are basically bedridden, you cannot get up," he said. "When the chiropractor came two days later for rehab, I tried to stand up and almost fainted straight away. http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2011/11/exercise-induced-arterial-endofibrosis/ http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/riders/2002/interviews/?id=ogrady021
massiveboy Posted October 15, 2012 Author Posted October 15, 2012 Morning all, Well an update on my situation, I had a Balloon angioplasty 2 months ago, pretty simple op off the bike for a week over night in hospital. I felt a huge relief for about 2 weeks then back to normal so IT DID NOT WORK. I am going for a follow up Exercise enduced pressure test on 1 Nov then the VS will scheduel the op for a proper Patch angioplasty. Funny thing is though that if I dont ride for a day or two then get back on the bike its like giving birth, If i ride steady for consecutive days it seems alot easier. Did Shova yesterday in the MTB catagory (on MTB obviously) and got a respectable 3:05 so had a solid ride and leg felt OK - calf pretty tense but thigh not to bad. look forward to the day I can be completly pain free!!! Yolanda Speedy has had it twice and is pretty knowledgeable.
Flemish Lion Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Morning all, Well an update on my situation, I had a Balloon angioplasty 2 months ago, pretty simple op off the bike for a week over night in hospital. I felt a huge relief for about 2 weeks then back to normal so IT DID NOT WORK. I am going for a follow up Exercise enduced pressure test on 1 Nov then the VS will scheduel the op for a proper Patch angioplasty. Funny thing is though that if I dont ride for a day or two then get back on the bike its like giving birth, If i ride steady for consecutive days it seems alot easier. Did Shova yesterday in the MTB catagory (on MTB obviously) and got a respectable 3:05 so had a solid ride and leg felt OK - calf pretty tense but thigh not to bad. look forward to the day I can be completly pain free!!! Yolanda Speedy has had it twice and is pretty knowledgeable. Thanks! That doesn't sound great! Why did the specialist suggetsed a balloon and not a patch first time around? Was yours just a narrowing and not a kink? Good luck! I don't need a pressure test as my left leg has no pulse! My iliac artery suddenly kinked badly two weeks ago after a very hard crit race... before it wasn't too bad, I just couldn't go hard in races/training, my breathing was fine but my leg(s) were screaming... Now I can hardly walk because my leg goes numb / pale.
SwissVan Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Scary stuff, take care guys just remember your life is more important than any bike racing. Did not know that Yolands had similar problems
Longtom127 Posted October 15, 2012 Posted October 15, 2012 Hi All, Anyone know about this "cyclist iliac syndrome" ? well after 6 months of scans, nerve test ect an Angiogram picked up a narrowing of the external iliac artery. I am going for angioplasty surgery next monday basically they are going to balloon the artery up and hope it lasts, for how long we dont know. The other option, surgically is a full graft or patch procedure which is pretty invasive. Anyone have experience with this? Hi For a few years I have experienced a laming of my left leg, after undergoing a doppler and CT we found both narrowing of the artery and that it had a kink. Check out this link http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/bicyclinginjuries/a/Arteriopathy_2.htmSpoke to Paul Cordes about Yolande, he had her first op here which was unsuccessful , the second was done in France and has been successful thus far.
Flemish Lion Posted November 5, 2012 Posted November 5, 2012 Just a quick update... I had the patch (using a vain from my thigh) done on my left iliac artery on Monday, the specialist also released the inguinal ligament on both sides to prevent future artery irritation. I now have a nice pulse in my left leg! The sad news is that my right iliac artery is also 50% blocked and may need a patch in the future if it restricts me too much. But at least the ligament is cut and it shouldn't get any worse. The post op recovery is going well, not too much pain. He cut my abdominal muscle so laughing, sneezing of coughing is not a good idea. I should be able to start active recovery in a week. In the meantime I need to keep the HR low not to burst the patch! The fact that both my iliac arteries were slowly getting blocked explains why it was so difficult to find out what was wrong! So if you feel your performance has dropped badly, is irregular and one or both legs go dead/numb after a hard interval best to get an ABI or Ankle Brachial Index test done! The cycling position can cause the artery to kink, stretch or narrow!
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