“What happens when a patient bleeds out during surgery?”
I see it on TV all the time, when the patient bleeds excessively on top of the operating table. Most of the time, they either die or get saved by some miracle. What happens if this event occurs in real life?
3 Answers
It's rare.
In a real-life operation, if bleeding occurs in any part of the body:
1. DO NOT PANIC
2. APPLY FIRM PRESSURE AT THE SITE OF THE BLEEDING until it stops. Exception, of course, is the neck where one has to be careful not to "choke to death."
3. In the operating room, we pack the area for a few minutes and slowly remove the packing to identify the source of bleeding and clamp as necessary and tie off the bleeder. If it is capillary or small vessel bleed, then certain medications (powder or dressing type) is applied to stop the bleeding. Transfusion is necessary if the hemoglobin falls very low, for example, below 9 g.
1. DO NOT PANIC
2. APPLY FIRM PRESSURE AT THE SITE OF THE BLEEDING until it stops. Exception, of course, is the neck where one has to be careful not to "choke to death."
3. In the operating room, we pack the area for a few minutes and slowly remove the packing to identify the source of bleeding and clamp as necessary and tie off the bleeder. If it is capillary or small vessel bleed, then certain medications (powder or dressing type) is applied to stop the bleeding. Transfusion is necessary if the hemoglobin falls very low, for example, below 9 g.
TV depictions are rarely true to life. There are several modern modalities to stop significant bleeding in the operating room today.
