Nagpur: With a positive approach and moral support from his family, a 38-year-old man battling HIV, low immunity, low platelet count, multiple comorbidities, a complex fracture and severe injuries due to an accident, survived at Wockhardt Hospital to tell an inspirational tale. Doctors told TOI that a rare and complex orthopaedic surgery had to be performed.
“The patient met with a life-threatening road accident a few days ago near Warora (Chandrapur) where he was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was denied admission because the case was complicated. Due to the pandemic, such cases are being rejected by several hospitals,” said K Sujatha, centre head of Wockhardt Hospitals. The patient was admitted but it was just the beginning of several complications. “The patient’s CT scan showed a complicated fracture in the hip bone and also a large wound on his thigh and knees. To save his life, surgery was inevitable. At the time of admission, the platelet count of the patient was less than 4000. Normally, the platelet count ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 lakh,” said Dr Manoj Pahukar, senior consultant.
For any such surgery, it is advisable to have a platelet count of at least 50,000 as the chances of bleeding are higher.
“After conducting various tests, we found that the patient was also HIV positive which complicated the case manifold,” said Dr Pahukar.
The patient, as per doctor’s advice, was put on antibiotics and single donor plasma with continuous monitoring. As a result, his platelet levels increased significantly and reached 1.2 lakh on the fifth day. After the platelets increased, doctors performed the surgery successfully.
“With his positive approach and family’s moral support, the patient recovered soon. Such complex surgeries, if done in optimum time, not only save the life of patient but also improve their quality of life,” said Dr Pahurkar.
The patient said he was satisfied with the treatment and the care that he got. Post-surgery, he showed remarkable improvement and started physiotherapy as well. “We also extended a helping hand by reducing the treatment cost substantially as the patient was not financially well off to afford the treatment,” said Sujatha.