Tulane @ Tulsa

#1
Notorious B.E.N

Notorious B.E.N

Vols & Braves
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#1
I just passed the channel its on an and theres an ambulance on the field, a Tulane player made a tackle and hurt his neck, I hope hes ok...players name is Devin Walker. All the announcers sound shook, said they have never seen anything like this.
 
#2
#2
Wow they said while they were removing his jersey and shoulder pads he actually stopped breathing and they gave him CPR and IVs and he started breathing again.
 
#14
#14
bentenn said:
Very good news
Click to expand...

I can assure you that it's not. Here's how I see it.

The neck fracture, obviously occurred as a result of the hit. What makes it frightening is everything else that went with it.

Collapsed lung - The neck injury would have to be serious enough to cause an airway obstruction. The lung collapse would be caused by a massive buildup in pressure, which basically...well, there's not a delicate way to make a comparison. Imagine blowing up a balloon past the point that it can withstand the pressure.

Not breathing - This can happen in conjunction with a neck injury with two possible causes. The first is if there's enough damage that it contorted the trachea (obviously not good). The other is if the neck injury is high enough up that the body is no longer in control of its own breathing. Obviously, that's much worse.

IV line - It was discovered a few years back that a cold saline IV can lower the body temperature and dramatically minimize the amount of swelling that normally takes place with a soft tissue injury. This is extremely important with the neck, because swelling can actually crush the spinal cord (or, if it's partially transected, cause it to completely transect).

This is an extremely serious situation, and I truly fear the worst. Even if he survives all of this, the quality of life associated with a superior cervical injury is not good. If you're a praying man or woman, say one for this young man and for his family.
 
#15
#15
Ohio Vol said:
I can assure you that it's not. Here's how I see it.

The neck fracture, obviously occurred as a result of the hit. What makes it frightening is everything else that went with it.

Collapsed lung - The neck injury would have to be serious enough to cause an airway obstruction. The lung collapse would be caused by a massive buildup in pressure, which basically...well, there's not a delicate way to make a comparison. Imagine blowing up a balloon past the point that it can withstand the pressure.

Not breathing - This can happen in conjunction with a neck injury with two possible causes. The first is if there's enough damage that it contorted the trachea (obviously not good). The other is if the neck injury is high enough up that the body is no longer in control of its own breathing. Obviously, that's much worse.

IV line - It was discovered a few years back that a cold saline IV can lower the body temperature and dramatically minimize the amount of swelling that normally takes place with a soft tissue injury. This is extremely important with the neck, because swelling can actually crush the spinal cord (or, if it's partially transected, cause it to completely transect).

This is an extremely serious situation, and I truly fear the worst. Even if he survives all of this, the quality of life associated with a superior cervical injury is not good. If you're a praying man or woman, say one for this young man and for his family.
Click to expand...

But the fact that he in stable condition and still alive is good news, not the best possible news, but better than if he were dead...no?
 
#17
#17
bentenn said:
But the fact that he in stable condition and still alive is good news, not the best possible news, but better than if he were dead...no?
Click to expand...

There's no such condition as "stable", although the media likes to act like there is. Most likely, someone at the hospital said that he had stabilized, which was reported as being much favorable than it is.

When vital signs aren't wildly fluctuating, a patient could be said to be stable...if someone suffered a cataclysmic head injury but had stabilized pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and breathing, they could well be referred to as "stable" even though the prognosis is dire.

Since temperature is a major vital sign, the cold saline IV administered (which would lower body temperature into a hypothermic state) may be distorting the true picture as well.
 
#21
#21
Ohio Vol, I agree with all you put except the cold IV. You would have to lower the core body temp and this can't be done quickly with an IV line.
Voodoo medicine.
I work with the Neuro surgeons at Vanderbilt and this was the topic of discussion. Try and lower body temp with cold IV and ice packs in a controlled OR setting and it takes many minutes.
Direct aorta line is the only way to do it quickly (as in open heart surgery to stop the heart).
 
#22
#22
Just heard about this on sports center. Seriously makes me sick to my stomach.
 
#23
#23
LittleDTO said:
Ohio Vol, I agree with all you put except the cold IV. You would have to lower the core body temp and this can't be done quickly with an IV line.
Voodoo medicine.
I work with the Neuro surgeons at Vanderbilt and this was the topic of discussion. Try and lower body temp with cold IV and ice packs in a controlled OR setting and it takes many minutes.
Direct aorta line is the only way to do it quickly (as in open heart surgery to stop the heart).
Click to expand...

I'll defer the greater details to you. However, I do recall Kevin Everett being treated with a cold IV and hypothermic treatment; the game temperature was 67 degrees, but (since it was the first play of the game) he would have just gone through warmups and had a slightly elevated core temperature. I believe one of the neurosurgeons confirmed that it had a hypothermic effect, but also downplayed its effectiveness.

If I remember correctly, he received a post-operative IV directly into the femoral artery as well, which kept him nicely chilled at 92 degrees. I am aware of the sparring between factions on either side of the debate.

That said, I was speaking more from a pessimistic standpoint that a saline IV was perceived to be necessary in this case...this would indicate that responding medics believed that a severe spinal cord injury had occurred, and in conjunction with the need for a tracheotomy and CPR, would lead to a dire prognosis.
 
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