Saving the life of a patient stabbed in the chest

(Baonghean.vn) - Nghe An General Hospital has just successfully saved the life of patient Thai Van Tr. (30 years old, Huong Son, Ha Tinh) who suffered a fatal stab wound due to a conflict with a neighbor. The knife blade penetrated the chest, causing severe damage to the right lung, which almost took the patient's life.

At 2:30 a.m. on August 2, Nghe An General Hospital received patient Thai Van Tr. transferred from Huong Son General Hospital (Ha Tinh) in critical condition due to a knife stab wound that penetrated the chest and caused injury in the third hour. The patient was admitted to the hospital in a very serious condition, comatose, with pale skin and mucous membranes, difficulty breathing, severe blood loss, and blood pressure dropping to 80/40 mmHg.

Through computed tomography, it was determined that the stab wound in the right chest was 2 cm wide, located at the 6th intercostal space in the anterior axillary line, causing massive hemothorax and pneumothorax. The patient was immediately transferred to emergency surgery to drain the right pleura and treat the wound.

Patients are cared for by relatives in the hospital room.

“The 20-25 cm deep stab wound caused a large amount of blood clots and new blood to form in patient Tr.’s chest. The patient suffered damage to the artery and bronchus of the lower lobe of the right lung, with blood spurting into a strong stream; there was a phenomenon of blood flowing into the airway and spilling out through the endotracheal tube. During the surgery, there were times when the patient fell into shock, blood pressure dropped rapidly to 0 mmHg, and death was imminent. The situation required the surgical and anesthesia teams to handle the situation quickly and accurately.

On one hand, the surgeon clamped the pulmonary artery and bronchus to stop the bleeding; on the other hand, the anesthesiologist continuously transfused 3 bags of blood type B, continuously resuscitating the patient. The patient's blood pressure gradually increased, when it reached 80mmHg, the surgical team continued to perform the right lower lobe resection according to the anatomy under the remote guidance of a leading expert in thoracic surgery from Cho Ray Hospital. Although the lobe resection surgery was performed in an emergency, it was still guaranteed to be a routine surgery" - Doctor of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery commented.

After surgery, the patient was maintained on high doses of antibiotics to prevent pneumonia caused by blood reflux from the punctured lung lobe to the healthy lung, avoiding the situation of "chasing to death on dry land".

Currently, patient Tr. has overcome the critical stage, recovered well and can be discharged home.

Hoang Yen