The 37-year-old man fell down a three-meter-high ladder but was not hospitalized. By evening, he felt dizzy and his consciousness was drowsy. The doctor diagnosed a traumatic brain injury.
The family said the patient was installing a light bulb when he fell and hit his head on the hard floor. After that, he stood up and saw that his body was normal so he did not go to the doctor. At night, the patient becomes drowsy, has slow consciousness, falls into a coma, and is admitted to the emergency room.
On December 12, Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai – Head of the Department of Emergency Resuscitation, Phu Tho Provincial General Hospital, said that the patient had a traumatic brain injury and was prescribed surgery to remove intracranial hematoma.
After surgery, the patient remained in a deep coma, was on a ventilator, had a continuous high fever, and did not respond to conventional fever-reducing medications. The doctor prescribed a command hypothermia technique to protect the brain, combining modern, specialized techniques in the field of resuscitation to treat the patient.
Currently, the patient has had his endotracheal tube removed, his fever is completely gone, he is alert, and communicates well.
Patients with high fever over 39 degrees are treated promptly with the ‘hibernation’ technique and are out of danger. Image: Hospital provided
Hypothermia, also known as hibernation, is a method of using cooling techniques to control the patient’s body temperature at 33-36 degrees Celsius within 24-48 hours after respiratory arrest. The normal physiological temperature level is 37 degrees Celsius. The hypothermia method was first applied in Vietnam in 2015 at Bach Mai Hospital, Hanoi.
Previously, when the technique of command hypothermia was not applied to patients with brain damage or deep coma, the prognosis during the resuscitation process was often poor, leaving serious sequelae. In case of being rescued, the patient often falls into a prolonged coma and lives a vegetative life, leaving the burden of medical care on the family and society.
“This method helps limit brain cell damage and improve neurological outcomes,” the doctor said.
Doctors advise people not to be subjective about accidents that cause head injuries. Cases of falls causing subdural hematoma often have increasing symptoms such as headache, vomiting, weakness of one half of the body, weakness of the lower limbs, movement disorders, visual and hearing disorders, difficulty speaking, Consciousness slows down, drowsiness, lack of alertness, poor reflexes…
In severe cases, the patient may fall into a coma, with a high risk of death. If unfortunately injured due to a fall or accident, people need to go to the hospital as soon as possible to be examined, diagnosed, and intervened promptly to avoid danger to life and limit sequelae after treatment. .