Sassoon doctors save injured pregnant woman, baby

The doctors at city-based BJ Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital proved to be saviours for a 21-year-old primigravida (first-time pregnant woman) with 36 weeks gestation who had an accidental fall.

The accident took place on January 1 at 7pm after the woman fell from a two-wheeler.

According to the doctors from the hospital, the woman had received an open injury over the abdomen with a sharp stone. The patient was immediately rushed to the hospital’s casualty at around 11:30 on the same day. On examination, it was found that the patient had two anterior abdominal wall defects of two centimetres each above umbilicus with omentum popping out.

Dr Ramesh Bhosale, professor and head, department of obstetrics and gynaecology, said, “An ultrasonography was done and was suggestive of hemoperitoneum. We immediately took the patient for exploratory laparotomy and C-section. The patient was managed jointly by obstetricians and surgeons.”

“On the opening of the abdomen fundus of the uterus had two injuries of two centimetres each and hemoperitoneum of 800ml was suctioned. We could successfully deliver a live female child of 2.1 kgs. The newborn had two superficial wounds of two centimetres and five centimetres apart on the left buttock. The placenta was posterior in attachment and there were no signs of separation. We did not find any injuries to the rest of the abdominal organs. The patient needed one unit of blood transfusion during operation,” he said.

Post the surgery the baby was taken care of by Dr Arati Kinikar, professor and head, department of paediatrics, and her team.

“Due to vigilant, quick diagnosis and timely intervention, a live baby was delivered and major complications of hemorrhagic shock and severe blood loss could be prevented. Sassoon hospital is well equipped and ready to handle such emergencies, at any time,” said Dr Muralidhar Tambe, dean, BJ Medical College and Sassoon hospital.

“The major complications in road traffic accidents include placental abruption (1.6 per cent), unspecified antepartum haemorrhage (4.7 per cent) and preterm birth (8.3 per cent),” he said.