Kyaikto Township People’s Hospital successfully saved a patient with a ruptured spleen in time from a life-threatening situation.
A young woman from Dai Tut village was admitted to the hospital with left-sided abdominal pain after she fell off a motorbike while getting on with a chair on her head and injured her abdomen on 26 February.
Despite initial good signs, her abdomen gradually swelled, and her symptoms worsened with low blood pressure, blurred vision, cold limbs and pale face, leading to the diagnosis of bleeding from a ruptured spleen.
As she needed a blood transfusion, the hospital rang the Kyaikto Blood Donors Association for assistance and with their help, the donors were found.
“After securing blood donors, we explained the situation to her relatives and asked them whether they would prefer an operation or a referral. It is dangerous because the patient might not survive the journey to the district hospital, which is at least one hour’s drive away. We checked with the experienced senior nurse and became frightened as no one in the hospital had ever done or experienced such an operation,” said the hospital’s announcement.
Since an emergency splenectomy was the only chance to save the patient’s life, hospital staff had no choice but to carry out the surgery.
“As soon as the abdomen was cut open, blood poured out like a tsunami. We were struck dumb. As we had previously diagnosed, it was a spleen rupture,” explained the hospital.
This splenectomy was recorded as the first of its kind in the 15-year history of Kyaikto People’s Hospital, and it was a successful operation. — MT/ZN/ED
