She was at risk of having her arm amputated following a trivial fall at home, but was saved by the joint intervention of doctors from the Santobono pediatric hospital and the ASL Napoli 1 Centro. 'Sara', a fictitious name, was taken to the Santobono emergency room by her parents following a domestic accident, painful but apparently not serious.
The first diagnosis was in fact of a compound humeral fracture in the lower part of the arm. As per procedure, the Santobono staff activated the diagnostic assistance pathway and, from the scheduled tests (X-ray, ecocolordoppler and vascular CT) performed in the emergency room, a more serious situation than expected emerged.
“The fractured bone had moved forward until it almost protruded under the skin, resulting in strangulation of the humeral artery.”, explain the doctors. In practice, the forearm and hand were no longer supplied with blood, with the risk that the limb would become necrotic; in that case, it would have been necessary to proceed with an amputation.
The team of the Complex Operating Unit of Vascular Surgery of the Ospedale del Mare, directed by Dr. Gennaro Vigliotti. Thanks to timely intervention, it was possible to repair the bone fracture and decompress the compromised artery.
The operation, which lasted over 8 hours, was performed by the doctor Pasquale Guida, director of the Complex Operating Unit of Orthopedics of the Aorn Santobono-Pausilipon in synergy with the team of the Complex Operating Unit of Vascular Surgery of the Ospedale del Mare, composed of doctors Fabio Spinetti e Daniela Di Lella.
“The synergy between the Health Authorities made it possible, in a very short time, to carry out a highly complex intervention, allowing the little patient to return to leading a normal life”, comments Rodolfo Conenna, general manager of Aorn Santobono-Pausilipon. Now resigned, “the little girl is fine, she brilliantly passed the post-operative phase and is completely healed”, underlines the general director of the ASL Napoli 1 Center, Ciro Verdoliva.
“She was also able to return to her great passion, swimming, thanks to the excellent collaborative work carried out by the staff of the two health authorities. I believe our most sincere thanks should go to all of them”, adds Verdoliva.
The little girl's mother sent a letter of thanks in recent days to the two teams of doctors who operated on Sara: “At the end of this terrible adventure – it reads – I will never stop thanking the doctors, not only for the professionalism shown on more than one occasion, but above all for the humanity and selfless affection with which they gave themselves”.
Article published on November 3, 2023 - 10:52
