Blood clot in brain after staring at phone for 20 hours
Woman had to be taken to the emergency room after sitting still on a train for 20 hours straight while holding her phone.
A 47-year-old woman suffered a blood clot in her brain after taking a train from her hometown in Henan Province to Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China to return to work after the Lunar New Year holiday (SCMPreported on March 13).
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| Maintaining the same position of looking at the phone for too long put the woman's life in danger. Photo: SCMP. |
Before that, like many others, she used her mobile phone to kill time. Since the train started, this woman maintained a lying position on one side, holding her phone in one hand throughout the 20-hour journey.
She fainted after leaving the ship and was taken to the Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University in Guangzhou, where tests revealed a blood clot had formed in her brain. Doctors immediately performed a three-hour surgery to remove the clot and prevent a life-threatening blockage of a cerebral artery.
"We removed many blood clots, a total of nearly 2 cubic centimeters, twice as many as a normal patient. We think she maintained the same position for too long, causing the blood vessels on her right side to become blocked," said Dr. Meng Heng, from the neurology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University.
Dr. Meng also warned that more and more young patients are developing blood clots (thrombosis).He advised phone users to stay in a comfortable position and not to watch continuously but to walk around and take breaks in between.
Last October, a girl in China lost vision in one eye after playing on her phone all day long. In December, a man became quadriplegic after playing a game for 48 hours straight.
