Mangled leg

A man walking across the street when suddenly a vehicle struck him down. He is in so much pain while trying to get up. He tried and tried but he can't. Then he realized that blood is gushing through his left leg and screamed loud when he saw his leg twisted like a rope.

How unlucky he can be?

That is the history of my patient last night. He was brought to the hospital. He is screamin in so much paim and blood pressure is dropping due to the blood loss. He feels cold.

Hooked immediately with a saline solution to comoensate with the blood loss. Packed the wound on his leg and given tranexamic acid intravenous medication to control his bleeding. He is now stabilizing and out on danger. But not on the fact that his leg will be amputated.

The diagnosis? Mangled foot, left leg

What does mangle means?

As defined by cambridge dictionary, mangle means to destroy something by twisting it with force or tearing it into pieces so that its original form is completely changed.

I have a picture of the mangled leg of the patient but decided to not upload because I think it isn't appropriate. But if you are curious, you can go to google so you can have an idea. But if you are eating don't view it because it may give you an upset stomach.

The treatment plan

The mangled extremity is a complex and multifaceted traumatic orthopaedic injury. This injury results in damage to bone, nerve, soft tissue, and/or vascular structures, and often requires multiple surgeries. The treatment decision between limb salvage and amputation is complicated, but must be made. A systematic approach to the evaluation and medical decision-making process can help an orthopaedic provider to make an informed medical decision. 

Upon assessment of our orthopedic doctor, the affected area have unreconstructable osseous or soft-tissue injuries, irreparable vascular injuries, and severe loss of the plantar skin and soft tissues. The judgement is amputation.

What is amputation?

Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventive surgery for such problems. A special case is that of congenital amputation, a congenital disorder, where fetal limbs have been cut off by constrictive bands.

I knew it will be hard to accept the fact that you will lose a part of your body. But it is the best approach or treatment plan to that kind of injury. It will take him days at the hospital to recover and I hope that he will overcome his difficulties after taking one of his legs.