Saving a patient with multiple injuries and a ruptured neck blood vessel due to a traffic accident

SGGPO 11/05/2023 15:13

The patient was riding a motorbike to work and had an accident on the road. When he fell off the motorbike, he suffered a trauma due to a sharp object piercing his neck, severing a blood vessel.

The doctor is examining the patient.

On May 11, Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital successfully performed surgery on a 33-year-old female patient who had a traffic accident and damaged the subclavian artery and right brachial artery.

Previously, the patient was riding a motorbike to work and had an accident on the road. When he fell off the motorbike, he suffered a sharp object injury to his neck and was taken to a local hospital for first aid. Realizing his critical condition, his family transferred him to Nam Sai Gon International General Hospital.

At the Emergency Department, the patient was conscious and responsive but had low blood pressure, multiple injuries to the upper body and a jagged wound on the right neck measuring 12cm x 5cm. Doctors quickly performed the necessary tests and diagnosed multiple injuries, pulmonary contusion, closed chest trauma due to multiple fractures of the right ribs, fractures of the clavicle, right shoulder blade, and hemothorax. CT results revealed thrombosis of the axillary and right brachial arteries.

The patient was resuscitated, given a blood transfusion, and consulted for emergency surgery. During the surgery, after draining the right pleura and examining the wound in the right neck, the doctors discovered a ruptured right subclavian vein and planned to surgically reconnect the blood vessels and remove the blood clot. The surgical team performed an emergency brachial artery resection, continued to suture the arteries and veins, and stopped bleeding in small blood vessels.

According to Dr. Vo Dang Son, Head of General Surgery Department, Nam Saigon International General Hospital, thrombosis in the arm of a patient with multiple trauma can lead to arm damage, more seriously, can cause loss of the arm, affecting the patient's ability to work.

In the treatment, two main tasks must be performed simultaneously: stopping the bleeding and ensuring blood circulation to nourish the tissue area controlled by the damaged artery. After more than 5 hours of surgery, the doctors saved the patient's life. Currently, the patient is out of danger and is being monitored and treated in the Intensive Care Unit.

According to Dr. Nguyen Nghiem Tuan, Head of the Department of Intensive Care - Emergency, Nam Saigon International General Hospital, vascular trauma is a very serious injury, very difficult to diagnose and dangerous and needs to be treated immediately, because if the blood supply is delayed, in addition to amputation, it can also cause serious consequences, including arrhythmia, acute kidney failure and death.

Source