How will this be treated?!


Question: my mate was stabbed in the leg and cut into a major artery. he is at hospital having surgery now. what will the doctors do in the opperation? and how long will he be in hospital for? and will he have to go back to hospital for check ups?


Answers: my mate was stabbed in the leg and cut into a major artery. he is at hospital having surgery now. what will the doctors do in the opperation? and how long will he be in hospital for? and will he have to go back to hospital for check ups?

The artery will be repaired with a graft. This could be tricky depending on the extent of damage to the artery and could mean the difference between your friend keeping/losing his leg.

Vascular surgeons are very highly skilled and can perform minor miracles these days but you gotta understand it may not be straightforward.

For the first 24 hours post op frequent observations will be made on the colour, sensation and movement of the foot on the affected side - making sure it is well perfused with blood via the repaired artery. Doppler (ultra sound machines) would be used to listen for foot pulses - the "dorsalis pedis" (on top of the foot) and the "anterior tibial" (near achilles tendon).

Blood clot in the artery is a risk of this surgery and is the reason for the foot observations, if it happens he'll need it to be cleared quickly by surgery or "clot busting" drug directly into the artery via a drip. (Clot is unlikely but possible).

Providing your friends foot is pink and warm he will spend maybe 4-5 days rehabilitating and then hopefully discharge providing everything has gone smoothly.

He will need to see the surgeon in outpatients at intervals, maybe 1-2 week, then 1 month, then 3 month and finally 6 month. The surgeon may wish to do a few investigations to make sure the graft is working.

A "blown graft" is rare but when it occurs it's like texas chainsaw massacre - blood spurts like a fountain from the graft site. This happened to a patient in my care and I had to climb on the bed, force my knee into his groin area to occlude the artery and we were wheeled up to theatre in that position in something of a blood bath. (He lived to tell the tale but remembered little of it).

Worsening symptoms on discharge......
Post operatively your friend will have general pain and discomfort from the surgery however,, the main thing to watch for is failure of the graft.... it is unlikely to occur but they can get bloked off with a clot. Your friend will suffer severe foot pain, it will turn ischaemic (purple in colour) and it will be cold to touch compared to the other foot. Emergency ambulance would be correct if this happened.

I'm sorry your friend got stabbed - these are violent times, he may lose his leg if he is unlucky. Please do what you can to avoid trouble like this.

He is lucky to be alive! Usually people with an injury like that will die within minutes, your friend will have the artery repaired in surgery and they will stitch the wound itself and no doubt a massive blood transfusion, he will be in hospital for a while and may need further treatment it all depends how he comes out of it, wish him well.... hugs xxx

the artery will be stiched back together the wound will be cleaned and stitched then it will depend how it heals,if the blood supply to the rest of his leg is o.k. he may be sent home soon it depends how bad the wound is???





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