Jakovo: pedestrian hit by truck stable after spine surgery
A man struck by a truck in Jakovo has a spinal injury and, after surgery by neurosurgeons, is in stable condition in intensive care, the VMA says.
A pedestrian hit by a truck in Jakovo has a spinal injury and, after surgery by neurosurgeons, is in stable condition in the intensive care unit of the Military Medical Academy (VMA), according to the institution. The VMA released the information to RTS in its report on the past 24 hours of work by the emergency service.
What is known about the accident in Jakovo?
The pedestrian was hit on Wednesday on Vozda Karadjordja Street, near number 7. The circumstances of the crash were not clarified in the first reports.
According to earlier claims by Telegraf, picked up by Novosti and Informer, an Emergency Medical Services team reached the scene quickly, treated the injured man and began transporting him. Because of his serious condition and the threat to his life, he was rushed to the VMA and sent to resuscitation.
Police patrols secured the scene, and an on-site investigation was under way at the time. Traffic in that part of the street moved slowly. The name of the injured man has not been released, and the available reports contain no information about the truck driver.
How does the VMA describe his condition?
According to the VMA, the pedestrian suffered a spinal injury. After surgery by neurosurgeons he was admitted to intensive care and is stable. The first reports on the crash said only that his life was in danger, so this is the first assessment of his condition to come from doctors.
The VMA’s 24-hour tally
The Jakovo case is one of the more serious injuries mentioned in the report. The VMA points out that its 85 admissions are far more than on previous days, and the chief surgeon on duty, Colonel Prof. Dr. Momir Sarac, said an unusually large number of patients from the Emergency Medical Services needed hospitalization. This is what the VMA reported for the previous 24 hours:
- 650 examinations performed
- 85 patients admitted for hospital treatment, 45 of them to surgery and 40 to internal medicine clinics
- 176 injuries and 20 traffic accidents
- seven cases of acute myocardial infarction, all treated in the angiography suite
Reports differ on one point: some media tie the figures of 176 injuries and 20 accidents to all of Belgrade, while others tie them to the work of the VMA emergency center.
Other serious cases
Among the more seriously injured is a patient from Sopot who fell onto a farm machine while doing agricultural work. He had a ruptured spleen, was operated on and is in the surgical intensive care unit, in stable condition.
Injuries came from construction and farm work, but also from accidents at home, in falls down stairs and in bathrooms. Orthopedists had plenty to do, because many of the injured were elderly.
In the same conversation, Sarac also spoke about leg swelling as a possible sign of deep vein thrombosis:
“As for leg swelling, not every swelling points to thrombosis, but it raises suspicion. When patients have a swollen leg, they deserve a diagnostic workup in any case. A vascular surgeon examines them first, and after the examination we decide whether additional diagnostic procedures are needed.”
If the suspicion is confirmed, patients have an ultrasound or Doppler scan, and confirmed thrombosis is followed by targeted treatment to prevent complications.
