Friday, February 25, 2011

On the Ruptured Ectopic Baby

In gynecology, one of the main emergency would be ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Basically, the fertilized egg was not implanted properly in the uterus, rather, got stuck along the way, commonly in the Fallopion tube. So as it grows bigger, and the tube's being a small space, it will burst and cause massive bleeding. And the mommy can die.

So while we were loitering in the operation theater, we overheard from the nurses' counter that there was a case of ectopic pregnancy going in for emergency operation. All the incoming elective cases were put on hold while they tried to reorganize the anesthesiologists and get someone to handle the emergency case.

And off we went to see the surgery too! Despite it's not a surgical case, I'm still pretty much excited. I mean, well... our prof used to go on and on about ruptured ectopic pregnancy when I was in my Gyne posting; but I never had a chance to see one back then. SO I found myself standing at the end of the bed, watching litres of blood being sucked out from the mommy's tummy.

Like. A whole lot of blood.

See, a human's body contain about 5 litres of blood. When there's less than 15% loss, you get grade 1 hypovolemic shock. 15% to 30% and you get grade 2. By grade 4, which is more than 45%, patient might be in coma already.

Wanna guess how much this mommy lost?

That's slightly more than 1L. Plus about 800mL in the other sucker's pail. Plus about 200mL of blood clots.

2 friggin' Litres of blood! Like, 40% blood lost!

No wonder all the gynecologists went into a havoc when there's an emergency ruptured ectopic pregnancy. ^^

7 Jujus:

LittleLamb said...

did she and the baby survived.. pls tell me yes

Robinn T said...

oo! i remember that was the condition the lady had when i first encounter OB/GYN operation in my hospital attachment in Hospital Putrajaya! That was also the first time i saw the vagina... freaked out a lil thouhg XD

Medie007 said...

little lamb, ruptured ectopic pregnancy... fetus wasn't really formed into a baby yet. but mother survived. her husband was very much reluctant for the surgery initially due to financial constrain. but life's more important... so they talked him into signing the form. she was so pale!

Tempus, how could u see the vagina? it's not a delivery. the surgery was like, cutting open the abdomen. the woman's legs must be closed lor. unless maybe, u see the erm, tip of the vagina. lol

[SK] said...

oh, that's very scary, so are both the mommy and the baby safe and sound now??

Twilight Man said...

Oh this info is good. I often wondered how much blood loss would trigger some reactions. Now I will remember it is 15%....!

missyc said...

hi medie007

been reading your blog silently :p

can't help commenting on this post, in this emergency how can the 'husband be so reluctant' to give consent for surgery due to financial constrain? If he didn't sign, will the surgery go ahead ?

gosh, now I know what my gynae meant when she said,'girl' you bled alot inside & it was real bloody! eeew

Medie007 said...

sk, there was no baby, cuz its not fully developed yet. mummy is alright.

twilight, yeah... 15 wll give some effects

missyc, not sure abt tat. cuz usually consent is needed for surgery.