Surgeons successfully extinguished the fire in the patient's chest.

As strange as it sounds, inThere are cases in the history of surgery when a fire flashes inside the patient. One of such incidents happened a year ago in one of the Australian hospitals - this became known only now, after the surgeons spoke at the congress of the European Society of Anesthesiology Euroanaesthesia. In their report, doctors told about the patient, the cause of the fire and its consequences.

The incident occurred at Austin Hospital,located in the Australian city of Melbourne. In August 2018, a 60-year-old man entered the hospital who needed an urgent operation - there was a break in the inner part of his aorta. In addition, he suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which prevented the flow of air freely into the respiratory tract. The disease was complicated to such an extent that air cysts formed in the Australian lungs.

During the operation, surgeons was importantquickly reach the heart, so they had to cut the sternum. Unfortunately, during the dissection, a part of the lung with several air cysts stuck to the sternum. When doctors tried to separate the lung from the bone, they accidentally damaged one of them, causing air to leak from the lungs. In order to prevent respiratory failure, we had to resort to supplying pure oxygen.

Fire during surgery

Further, when restoring the aortic wall, surgeonsused electrocautery - a device that cuts through the soft tissue and independently stops minor bleeding. There was a dry tampon in the patient's chest, which caught fire under the influence of supplied oxygen and a spark from an electric device. Fortunately, the surgeons were able to quickly put out the fire, and he did not cause the patient any harm. The operation went on without incident, and ended successfully.

After this frightening case, surgeons searchedsimilar medical cases described in the literature. They managed to find only six mentions of a fire inside the patients: in three cases, the patients underwent coronary bypass surgery, and in the rest - thoracic surgery. Not surprisingly, all of these patients had similar lung problems.

Today, medical workers are capable ofamazing feats, and sometimes they make them even on the street. For example, recently doctors from the English city of Durham conducted an open heart surgery right in the middle of the street. More information about this case can be read in our material.

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