Dragon Ball
What was the cause of Akira Toriyama’s death? What’s acute subdural hematoma?
Akira Toriyama’s death was announced only last night, but his cause of death isn’t so easy to understand just by its name. Here’s an explanation.
Fans of anime and manga woke up to terrible news, as it was announced that Akira Toriyama, the creator and artist of Dragon Ball and many more famous publications, passed away at the age of 68 on March 1st.
The official announcement didn’t go into many details, but it did however reveal that the cause of death was “acute subdural hematoma.” Unless they’re already familiar with the concept, it’s very probable that most people wouldn’t understand what this medical condition entails. We’ll try to explain it as best as possible:
What was Akira Toriyama’s cause of death?
Acute Subdural Hematoma (ASDH) is, in simpler words, a blood clot that suddenly forms between the surface of the brain and the brain’s harder outer covering (the dura mater). These blood clots prevent the flow of blood in vital organs and are a result of internal bleeding, usually due to the stretching and tearing of veins on the surface of the brain, and can happen for a variety of reasons like trauma to the head that causes the brain to jolt or shake.
However, head injuries are not the only reason behind the formation of these blood clots. As people age the risk of these tears happening on their own increases, with blood-thinning medicine or ingesting alcohol contributing to the risk. There is simply no way to find out what exactly caused this specific case in the mangaka, but it’s undeniable that it was an unfortunate situation.
Can ASDH be treated?
The key factor in treating an Acute Subdural Hematoma lies in how fast the reaction to its appearance is. In medical terms, Acute refers to a sudden and unexpected appearance, which means that there is no simple way of predicting one. As such, unless a patient afflicted by an ASDH is immediately diagnosed as such and taken to urgent care, it is very difficult to treat correctly.
Finding and diagnosing an SDH is best done through CT scan. Depending on the size of the blood blot, there are two options for treatment: if its less than 1cm at its thickest point, certain drugs could help alleviate the problem. If the blood clot is any larger, however, it would require surgical intervention, most commonly in the way of a craniotomy through an opening created in the skull, and through which surgeons could remove the clot by hand.
Akira Toriyama left us with a long and powerful legacy
At this point, the only thing left to remember is the mangaka’s work. As mentioned in his farewell letter, Toriyama was still working on some projects, and one of his titles, Sand Land, is just a few weeks away from being released as both an anime series and a video game. However, we have to be honest and mention that Dragon Ball will always live on in our hearts.
The world of video games has not been left behind, as Toriyama left his mark in a very special way. His designs were a key piece in the RPG world, with such important franchises in Japan as Dragon Quest or one of the most important titles of the industry, Chrono Trigger.