Risha Chitlangia | TNN
New Delhi: The doctors who performed the “miracle” of saving the life of Supratim Dutta had never seen such a case. The 23-year-old executive was brought to AIIMS trauma centre with a fivefoot-long iron angle, weighing 6 kg, pierced through his chest. The case posed challenges from the beginning and was delicate right till the end. But the surgeons were equal to the task — and Supratim lived to tell the tale.
“In my 35-year long career, this is the first time I have see a case like this,” said Dr M C Misra, chief of Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS, while briefing the media about case. So was it for most of the doctors who operated on Dutta after he met with a car accident on July 12.
The iron angle which impaled him had pierced through the car’s bonnet and dashboard. The surgery itself took 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete, and almost another 3 hours to wind up the procedure.
“I was shocked to see him. He was on the stretcher holding the iron angle. Groaning in pain, he kept asking people to move aside so that the angle wasn’t disturbed. His blood pressure, pulse etc were normal though he was having difficulty in breathing,” said Tej Prakash, senior resident.
The iron angle had pierced through his liver, stomach, spleen, left lung and perforated the upper part of the diaphragm at two places and come out by breaking the 10th rib of Dutta’s back. “The heart rests on the diaphragm and the iron angle missed the heart by a few millimetres. He is really lucky. The spleen was badly damaged and we had to take it out. Luckily, Dutta had a extra small spleen, which we left inside,” said Dr Sushma Sagar, one of the surgeons. MIRACULOUS SURVIVOR Datta’s case posed challenges to docs
When 23-year-old executive Supradim Datta was brought to the AIIMS trauma centre with a five-foot-long iron angle pierced right through his chest, it posed serious challenges to doctors. They couldn’t do any of the crucial diagnostic tests, like X-ray and CT scan. “Time was running out and we couldn’t wait for diagnostic tests. Anyway, a CT scan was just not possible with a five-foot angle stuck across his upper abdomen,” said Dr Biplab Mishra, one of the operating surgeons.
Without these tests, the doctors had to guess the extent of internal damage and the organs affected. “Usually, these diagnostic tests help us in deciding the course of surgery, but in this case we had to proceed without knowing for sure which organs were involved,” Dr Mishra added. Dutta was brought to the hospital at 7.40 am, nearly one-and-half-hours after the accident. By 8.10 am, doctors had rolled him inside the operation theatre. The first incision was carried out at 9 am.
The biggest challenge was to anaesthetize Dutta. The angle was so placed
that the doctors couldn’t make him lie down on the table.
“In this case, anaesthesia was given with him in a sitting position and without knowing whether any main blood vessel was damaged or not,” said Dr Chhavi Sawhney, assistant professor, anaesthesia. Instead of taking the conventional approach — entering through the abdominal cavity or by cutting the breastbone open — the doctors decided to cut Supratim from the left side. Dr Biplab Mishra said, “A movement backward or forward would have caused more damage. So we decided to cut him from the side. After making the incision, we had to cut three of his ribs to enter the area where the angle was lodged.
Then we carefully opened the diaphragm and made a passage to pull the angle. It took us just 15 minutes to pull the rod in one piece. But as the rod had caused a lot of damage to the other vital organs, we took three hours to repair the damage. We fixed the ribs with wires.”
Doctors say that Dutta is recovering and can walk, but they are taking a lot of precautions as his spleen has been removed and he is prone to contracting infections. TNN
MEDICAL RECORD: Supratim Dutta was brought to the hospital with an iron angle inside his body
Source : TIMES OF INDIA