A 2-year-old boy ran to a neighbor’s house to play and fell into a 1.2m deep koi pond. About 8 minutes later, the child was discovered and brought to shore when his heart and breathing stopped.
The accident happened to child patient HT, 2 years old, in Hanoi, April 22. When discovered in the koi pond, the boy was pale, had cardiac arrest, and stopped breathing.
Immediately, the family shouted for help and was treated on the spot by medical staff from a medical station near their home. After 10 minutes, the boy’s heartbeat returned and was taken to the district hospital 5km away.
At this time, the child has a heartbeat and breathing rate but is not awake or drowsy. After initial emergency treatment and intubation to control the respiratory tract, the child was transferred to the National Children’s Hospital in a coma after circulatory arrest.
By April 26, after 4 days of treatment, due to the dire prognosis, baby T. was still in the hypothermia phase to protect the brain, closely monitoring and controlling organ function. The doctor will have a plan to evaluate the level of consciousness and comprehensive neurological function when the child passes the severe stage.
This is one of three drowning patients the National Children’s Hospital has received in recent days.
The remaining two cases are child NK (female, 12 years old, in Hanoi) and child AT (male, 11 years old, in Son La) who had an accident while bathing in a pond or stream with friends.
The child was brought ashore by everyone around him in a state of cardiac and respiratory arrest and received emergency circulatory arrest. Both children were turned upside down by the people and ran about 2 small laps as usual.
After 15 minutes of emergency cardiac arrest and apnea, the child’s heart and breathing returned. The child was taken to the local hospital for initial treatment and transferred to the National Children’s Hospital, still in a state of dilated pupils and deep coma. .
Master, Doctor Le Nhat Cuong, Department of Internal Medicine Intensive Care, National Children’s Hospital, said all 3 pediatric patients were admitted to the hospital with multiple organ failure as a result of circulatory arrest.
Children are given treatment measures such as: multi-organ function support, continuous dialysis when there is kidney failure, respiratory support with mechanical ventilation, use of cardiac drugs, and hypothermia to protect the brain.
After 3 days, children NK and AT were awake, breathing on their own and could be discharged from the hospital in the next few days. The doctor noted that children need to continue long-term monitoring because neurological sequelae may still occur.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is one of the leading causes of death in children aged 5 to 14 years. In Vietnam, according to data from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, nearly 2,000 children under 16 years old die from drowning each year.
Video instructions on first aid for drowning children: