a_unique_person
19th May 2009, 06:59 PM
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25509892-601,00.html
A COUNTRY doctor has saved the life of a dying 12-year-old boy by using a household drill to bore into his brain after the boy had a bike accident.
A local GP removed a blood clot in the brain of a 12-year-old boy by using an everyday house drill....
The emergency "operation", by local GP Rob Carson in the Victorian country town of Maryborough, was yesterday hailed by a leading neurosurgeon as "one of the gutsiest life-saving efforts imaginable".
The drama happened late last Friday when Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike while riding in a quiet cul de sac outside a friend's house in Maryborough, a town of 7000 people 170km northwest of Melbourne. Nicholas was not wearing a helmet and the impact of his head hitting the pavement knocked him momentarily unconscious.
....If Dr Carson did not act within minutes, the boy would die.
"Dr Carson came over to us and said, 'I am going to have to drill into (Nicholas) to relieve the pressure on the brain - we've got one shot at this and one shot only'," Mr Rossi recalled.
The small hospital was not equipped with neurological drills, so Dr Carson obtained a household De Walt drill, used for boring holes in wood, from a hospital maintenance room.
He telephoned leading Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace to help talk him through the procedure, which he had never tried before.
Mr Wallace told Dr Carson where to aim the drill and how deep to go.
The GP disinfected the drill and drilled into the skull just below the bruise mark on the side of the head above the ear where the trauma had occurred.
:cool:
A COUNTRY doctor has saved the life of a dying 12-year-old boy by using a household drill to bore into his brain after the boy had a bike accident.
A local GP removed a blood clot in the brain of a 12-year-old boy by using an everyday house drill....
The emergency "operation", by local GP Rob Carson in the Victorian country town of Maryborough, was yesterday hailed by a leading neurosurgeon as "one of the gutsiest life-saving efforts imaginable".
The drama happened late last Friday when Nicholas Rossi fell off his bike while riding in a quiet cul de sac outside a friend's house in Maryborough, a town of 7000 people 170km northwest of Melbourne. Nicholas was not wearing a helmet and the impact of his head hitting the pavement knocked him momentarily unconscious.
....If Dr Carson did not act within minutes, the boy would die.
"Dr Carson came over to us and said, 'I am going to have to drill into (Nicholas) to relieve the pressure on the brain - we've got one shot at this and one shot only'," Mr Rossi recalled.
The small hospital was not equipped with neurological drills, so Dr Carson obtained a household De Walt drill, used for boring holes in wood, from a hospital maintenance room.
He telephoned leading Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace to help talk him through the procedure, which he had never tried before.
Mr Wallace told Dr Carson where to aim the drill and how deep to go.
The GP disinfected the drill and drilled into the skull just below the bruise mark on the side of the head above the ear where the trauma had occurred.
:cool: