heres a question for anyone with proper medical knowledge? A small 3 year old child goes into hospital and?

Question

has an operation to have a leg joint reincerted into a hip joint, but for some reason this operation takes four and a half hours and the child becomes extremely ill with a high temp that cannot be lowered and antibiotics are not working and the childs heart rate is 179, does anyone know what would cause this?? please only people who know medical knowledge?

Answer 1

The fairly obvious reaction for me is to say that its caused by severe infection;
Possibly MRSA if the antibiotics are not working;

Answer 2

My first guess, and a guess is all it is, would be a nosocomial infection. One of the greatest risks of any surgery is infection. Depending on where the infection is and what caused it, the antibiotic therapy could take up to a week to be effective. The heart rate for a three year old is not that high, and would be expected with a fever, and you don't mention what the temp is, but children often spike temps as high as 105 without any trouble at all. Give the antibiotics the time required to effect cure of the infection...ask the doctors where the infection originates and if they have cultured it to use the correct antibiotic.

Answer 3

Complications can occur during or after the procedure. Most people are not affected.

The main complications of any operation are bleeding during or soon after the procedure, infection and an abnormal reaction to the anaesthetic.

Specific complications of are rare but can include:
It can get infected but antibiotics are given during surgery to help prevent this.
The ball may come out of its socket. If dislocation happens repeatedly, another operation may be needed.
Tiny cracks can be made in the bone while fitting the joint. These usually heal, but on rare occasions a fracture can result, needing additional treatment.
Nerves or blood vessels in the leg can get damaged during the operation but this is very rare.
It's possible to develop a blood clot in the veins of the leg (deep vein thrombosis, or DVT).

Ask the consultant and surgeon - what has happened and write everything down - times/dates/who had said what/when.

Answer 4

Yes its a reasonably long operation for such a young child but certainly not unusual. The anaesthetist of course is responsible for monitoring the heart rate,And would not have accepted a child for an op who had an infection, The onset of the symptoms are too sudden to be a localised infection low fluid situation,Or possibly a dilution of gases in bloodstream seem more likely

Answer 5

I assume they have checked the child's white blood cell count? If there is a fever, then he probably has an infection. The body trying to fight the infection can cause the heart rate to go way up. I hope to God they get it down soon, though.

Answer 6

not sure how long the operation should have taken but you obviously have concerns over the length of time it took. The other symptoms sound like infection I wouldn't like to say what type because with out the operation site it is very difficult to diagnose

Answer 7

not clear as you don't have the whole picture but sepsis and shock spring to mind.... whatever it is its systemic and not localised...if the organism is not yet determined antibiotics being used could be inappropriate ...when the cultures are back the appropriate antibiotics will see an improvement ...how and what initiated this procedure may also have a relevance ...my best wishes are with you

Answer 8

did the high temp start in theatre? this sounds like it could be malignant hyperthermia...which basically is an allergy to the anaesthetic drugs used..if he had a reaction this would explain the lengh of time in theatre as this condition is life threatening and would have required lots of treatment. your best bet though is to ask the surgeon and anaesthetist what happened..as we can all only guess.

Answer 9

Sounds like a major infection. . .

Answer 10

Possibly a reaction to anaesthesia.