"Without immediate treatment, the girl could have died": An innocent game ended in emergency surgery
The girl tripped over a taut rope while running, was thrown to the ground, and suffered a head injury. She arrived at the hospital fully conscious, but shortly thereafter began to convulse and lost consciousness. Emergency surgery performed at the Ziv Medical Center saved her life.
An innocent family game almost ended in disaster: S., an 11-year-old girl from the North, was playing with a relative when, while running, she tripped over a taut rope she had not noticed. She was thrown with force to the ground and suffered a head injury. Her parents rushed her to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed, where she arrived fully conscious, complaining of severe headaches and signs of bruising on her neck. A CT scan performed on her revealed that she was suffering from an epidural intracranial hemorrhage — an accumulation of blood between the skull bone and the membrane surrounding the brain, which could exert dangerous pressure on it. Following the findings, it was decided to take her in for urgent surgery.
However, while she was waiting to enter the operating room, her condition suddenly deteriorated. S. began to convulse, lost consciousness, and one of her pupils dilated — a sign that could indicate a dangerous increase in intracranial pressure and possible damage to the brainstem. She was immediately taken into the operating room.
During the surgery, performed by Dr. Hagai Swissa, a part of the skull bone was opened to reach the source of the bleeding. The team stopped the active bleeding and suctioned out the blood clot that was putting pressure on the brain. After reducing the pressure, the piece of bone was returned to its place and fixed.
At the end of the surgery, S. was transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit while sedated and ventilated. After her condition improved and she was weaned off the ventilator, she was transferred to the pediatric ward and subsequently discharged to her home.
"If the girl had not been treated immediately, she could have died," says Dr. Samuel Tobias, director of the neurosurgical unit at Ziv.
According to him, the unit opened about a year and a half ago, and since then about 130 complex neurosurgical operations have been performed there, including surgeries to remove brain tumors and to treat spinal problems.
Professor Salman Zarka, director of the Ziv Medical Center, added: "When it comes to a head injury, every minute can be critical. Residents of the Galilee and the Golan receive advanced neurosurgical treatment close to home, instead of having to travel to distant hospitals, and many of these operations are life-saving."
