my friend was in a fight and they were helped ina hospital. but now they are bleeding internally in a pocket somewhere inside their stomach and they are throwing up blood. why didnt the hospital treat that the first time? is there anything they can do or is he just supposed to wait till he dies becase of it? if so, what CAN they do to help him?
2006-07-30 18:24:08 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Injuries
Many internal bleeds are managed medically (nonsurgically) these days. You can monitor them by following the patient's blood level (hemoglobin/hematocrit) and coagulation times. These can be corrected with transfusions of blood or plasma. Repeat images (CT, etc) can also be used to see if the bleeding stops. Surgery is reserved for bleeds that will not stop or which are so fast that the patient will likely die if they don't get surgery right away. In some cases, a bleed can be isolated using angiography (injecting dye while shooting x-rays to find the vessel(s) that are bleeding). In these cases, it is sometimes possible to block off the bleeding vessel(s) from the inside - called embolization.
If your friend is vomiting blood, it could be an injury to the stomach/upper intestines, but these usually must be operated because perforation of the intestines/stomach will result in infection of the abdominal cavity (peritonitis). If it is just a hematoma or a bleeding ulcer from the stress of his injuries, they can be watched.
On the other hand, if your friend has broken ribs and a punctured lung, he may cough up blood and this is not as bad. A chest tube can be placed if the bleeding is significant enough or this can also just be observed with repeat chest x-rays.
I am a surgeon and love to operate, but part of our field is knowing when to choose NOT to operate...perhaps more important than knowing how to operate.
2006-07-30 19:17:48 · answer #1 · answered by CaliDoc 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Internal hemorrhage often gives no symptoms in the beginning...especially if it is a "slow bleed". The symptoms don't appear until the bleeding is significant enough to put pressure on an organ or to cause distention or to cause unaccounted for discrepancies in blood work, etc. Also, depending where the bleed is, they might not be able to do anything. If it is a bleed they can fix with surgery, they will. Some bleeds can be treated with ice lavages. Believe me, they will do all they can.
2006-07-30 18:31:08 · answer #2 · answered by ilse72 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, if the bleeding was a 'slow bleed', it's possible they didn't even know it was happening when they examined him the first time around. Usually if the internal bleeding is severe (as when a major artery or organ is damaged), they do surgery to clamp off the source and stop the bleeding. If it's minor bleeding (kinda like a bruise internally), they'll probably be monitoring him closely and possibly doing blood transfusions until the bleeding has stopped.
2006-07-30 20:47:40 · answer #3 · answered by kansas8099 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're supposed to open the person up, find out what's bleeding and then sew it up. But I guess it depends on what is bleeding and how much blood the person has already loosed.
2006-07-30 18:31:22 · answer #4 · answered by xxx_dance_dance_xxx 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They cut him open and sew up the hole he is bleeding from. Seriously.
2006-07-30 18:28:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋