Department of Thoracic Surgery, Da Nang Hospital has just received emergency care and treated a case of being shot with an air gun and nearly losing his life.
The patient is an 11-year-old girl who was playing in the bamboo grove behind her house when she was suddenly startled by the sound of an air gun being fired, followed by a feeling of writhing chest pain and difficulty breathing. The family quickly took the child to Da Nang Hospital for emergency treatment.
Immediately after receiving the baby, the doctors performed a clinical examination, combined with imaging diagnostics, and determined that the girl had blood spillage – left pneumothorax causing acute respiratory failure , caused by a penetrating wound. chest hit by an air gun.
The image shows that the bullet wound went from the back through the chest, punctured the left lung and stopped in the shoulder area right next to the left subclavian artery – one of the body’s major arteries. The patient immediately had emergency surgery to drain the left pleural cavity.
Sharing about this issue, Dr. Duong Chi Luc – a direct participant in the surgical team said: “Removing the bullet from the body is also a challenge for the doctors of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, because the bullet is small, 5mm, located in the chest. deep in the body, located right at the top of the chest wall, close to the left subclavian artery, where there is a strong muscle system, bone cover, rich blood vessels, especially the brachial plexus… That is Not to mention the aesthetic issues for the baby.”
“However, the doctors did an ultrasound to accurately locate the bullet’s position, then inserted a small, long needle into the bullet, then made a small incision along the needle body to access the bullet… After 30 Minutes after the bullet was removed, it did not damage the surrounding components,” Dr. Luc said.
The path of the bullet penetrated the left chest. Fortunately, the baby’s organs were inverted (heart tilted to the right) so he was able to “avoid” the aortic arch. This is a very rare, lucky case, otherwise it would be almost impossible to save, Dr. Luc shared more.
Currently, after 7 days of surgery and treatment, the girl’s health has stabilized, the skin wound has healed and her health has recovered to almost normal.
According to doctors, although there are no complete statistics, it seems that air gun accidents have recently increased and there have been deaths. This is one of the dangers that directly threatens human health and life.
The rare case of the above child once again rings a warning bell for everyone about the risk of accidents caused by air guns in particular and explosives in general. People should raise awareness when using these types of items, and eventually give them up to protect the environment as well as protect the safety of human health, Dr. Force further recommendations.
Jazmyn Gleichner