Lucknow: A critically injured accident victim with a completely collapsed lung and underlying heart disease, diabetes and hypertension was successfully treated at SGPGI’s Apex Trauma Centre recently.A 50-year-old farmer, Mevalal, from a remote area of Sonbhadra sustained injuries in a bike-versus-car collision on April 8 and was initially treated at a district hospital.Persistent breathlessness led to his referral to Apex Trauma Centre, where doctors diagnosed severe pyothorax — accumulation of pus in the pleural cavity — with extensive pleural thickening. During surgery, doctors evacuated around 1,200 ml of thick pus and facilitated lung re-expansion.“The challenge was to safely achieve adequate exposure and remove the dense pleural peel while managing the patient’s significant cardiopulmonary risk,” said Dr Amit Kumar Singh, additional chief, Apex Trauma Centre.The patient had history of hypertension and diabetes and had undergone PTCA for cardiac disease in 2023. He required single-lung ventilation during anaesthesia.He was monitored in the ICU for two days before being shifted to the ward and was discharged on Sept 14.The surgery was performed by Dr Singh with Dr Aditya Singh and Dr Varun Gupta, senior residents in trauma surgery.Anaesthesia and critical-care management were provided by Dr Ganpat and Dr Rafat Shamim, additional professors of anaesthesia, with support from the ICU and OT teams. SGPGIMS director Prof RK Dhiman lauded the team.
