Recently, 9-year-old Tibetan girl Kelsang (pseudonym) and two small friends went up the mountain to herd yaks, a black bear suddenly appeared and threw Kelsang to the ground, the small friends on the side shouted for help, and the adults who heard the cry for help immediately rushed to pick up a large stone and smash it at the bear. The black bear was scared away, and Kelsang lay on the ground unable to move, blood flowing from his back, shocking.
Subsequently, Kelsang was urgently sent to the Changdu People's Hospital in Tibet for treatment. Due to the limited local treatment conditions, local doctors performed debridement and suturing surgery for Kelsang. However, more than 20 days after the operation, Kelsang's wound became infected, the wound was red and swollen and could not heal, accompanied by fluid outflow. The Chongqing doctor supported by the Changdu People's Hospital saw the situation and urgently contacted Dr. Zhou Jianjun, a neurosurgeon at the Children's Hospital Affiliated to the Heavy Medical Hospital, and through the understanding of the medical history, suspected that the child may have cerebrospinal fluid leakage, and suggested that he be transferred to Chongqing for treatment.
The relay of life spanning thousands of kilometers unfolded. Escorted by his family, Kelsang was successfully transferred to the Department of Neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital affiliated with the Heavy Medicine. Through CT and MRI, Kelsang was diagnosed with renal contusion, lumbar fracture, lumbar vertebral dura mater rupture, cerebrospinal fluid leaking out of the bite wound, and the estimated depth of biting through the back skin was estimated to be five or six centimeters.
According to Dr. Zhou Jianjun, cerebrospinal fluid is a colorless and transparent fluid present in the ventricles and subarachnoid space, which surrounds and supports the entire brain and spinal cord.
"Our brain and spinal cavity are connected to a closed cystic cavity, and the filling of cerebrospinal fluid plays a role in the cyst cavity to avoid concussion of the cranial nerves." According to Dr. Zhou Jianjun, our brain produces about 500 ml of cerebrospinal fluid per day to keep the total amount of fluid in this sac almost constant. Once the cyst cavity (dural membrane) of the spinal cord site is broken, resulting in cerebrospinal fluid leakage, cerebrospinal fluid volume is reduced, it will lead to low cranial pressure, central system infection, making the child dizzy and headache, some children can have intracranial hemorrhage, venous sinus thrombosis, cerebral hernia and other serious complications, if not treated in time can be life-threatening.
The Department of Neurosurgery attaches great importance to Kelsang's condition, and the director Professor Liang Ping, the deputy director Professor Zhai Xuan and Associate Professor Li Lusheng consulted for Kelsang and suggested that Kelsang be repaired as soon as possible and the spinal canal exploration surgery should be performed. After making full preoperative preparations and surgical plans, Dr. Zhou Jianjun performed surgery on Kelsang, and during the operation, it was found that the child's spinal nerves were bitten off 2 times, the dura mater was torn 2 openings, and the posterior column structure of the 3rd and 4th lumbar vertebrae was fractured multiple times.
Through more than 4 hours of surgery, experts successfully performed dural repair and fracture fixation for Kelsang. After the operation, under the meticulous care of neurosurgery medical staff for nearly a month, Kelsang recovered well and smiled again. The reporter learned that Kelsang will embark on the road back home this weekend with the good wishes of medical staff, and she can walk and run on the plateau normally as before.
Reporter of the Voice of Chongqing reported to Han Xiao
Source: Voice of Chongqing