Traffic accidents test capabilities of orthopedic surgeons

Jeddah: Mohannad Sharawi According to some top orthopedic surgeons, traffic accidents are still the main and growing cause of serious fractures.

Dr. Ahmad Nasser Boueissa, a prominent consultant pediatric orthopedic surgeon and chairman of the orthopedic department at King Fahd Hospital in Al-ahsa, said traffic accidents in Kingdom are considered the chief cause of around 90 percent of all serious fractures each day.

Boueissa noted during his lecture at the recent Middle East International Skeletal Trauma Conference in Dubai that hospitals and orthopedic departments receive cases of more serious injuries than ever before such as multiple serious bone fractures.

At the same time, more and more survivors of major traffic accidents are able to walk out of hospitals after they receive the required treatment thanks to advanced treatment facilities available, said Boueissa. He also attributed this to the improvement in the levels of road safety and the security systems in modern vehicles as well.

Regarding pediatric cases, Boueissa said children can respond very well to treatment because they have good physiology, and their bodies can heal and even remodel after injuries.

Boueissa talked also about the concept of damage control, a concept adopted by the US Marines to maintain broken and damaged ships. He said such principles are being increasingly used as an assessment tool to the seriousness of a fracture and if it is curable or not. Damage control may also help in deciding if the patient is more capable of enduring any surgery before entering the operation theater, Boueissa said.

“There is a theory called ‘dual trauma,’ suggesting that a traffic accident victim must tolerate both the initial collision and trauma, and then the subsequences may be incurred by the surgical treatment," he said.

Orthopedic surgeons are then supposed to assess the severity of the damaged part of the body in order to determine the patient’s readiness for the treatment and to make sure that other side injuries — which can also be very serious — do not hinder the surgical treatment. "Thus, any damaged tissue should be figured out so that the surgery can be postponed until the stability of the case is clear and this what we call damage control,” said Boueissa.

Due to the continuous and fast development and progression in trauma treatment many orthopedic surgeons would prefer to keep up with the updated news by applying for special training courses and attending relevant medical events and symposia.

On this point, Boueissa said: “We have a remarkable progress over the past 10 years in terms of the most modern orthopedic equipment and trauma treatment devices which can be seen in many big governmental and private hospitals of the Kingdom. And let’s not forget the training of surgeons and doctors as we can see many efforts by the Saudi government represented by the Ministry Of Health in supporting local and international medical conferences in order to benefit from others’ experiences and to exchange knowledge among specialists. In fact, we need no less than two training centers in each region of the Kingdom to be specialized in trauma treatment and to be also responsible for qualifying and preparing surgeons at the highest efficiency and ready to deal with any urgent and difficult case”.

The Middle East International Skeletal Trauma Conference has attracted more than 100 orthopedic surgeons from the Gulf States and other countries and was organized by Smith & Nephew between April 26-28 at the Crown Plaza Convention Center at Dubai Festival City.

The Skeletal Trauma Symposium’s seven-strong faculty team consists of international and regional experts – from the US, UK, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — on trauma management and treatment and the three-day event program had sessions covering every aspect of trauma and every part of the body, as well as special cases including common pediatric (child patient) traumas, and severe open fractures. Participants were being actively encouraged to bring their own cases for review and discussion.

Road accidents are a major health hazard in Saudi Arabia. The ensuing trauma has increased in direct proportion to the increase in the number of road vehicles.

An average of 17 Saudi residents die on the country’s roads each day, a report by the Kingdom’s General Directorate of Traffic has revealed. The World Health Organization found Saudi Arabia to have the world’s highest number of deaths from road accidents, which now make up the country’s principal cause of death in adult males aged 16 to 36. The study found that 6,485 people had died and more than 36,000 were injured in over 485,000 traffic accidents during 2008 and 2009.

The report found that almost a third of traffic accidents in the Saudi capital Riyadh were due to drivers jumping red lights, followed by 18 percent of accidents caused by illegal U-turns. The most common dangerous driving activities were speeding, sudden stops and speaking on the phone while driving.