The most difficult surgery. Five of the most unusual and complex surgical operations

These operations amaze the human imagination with their complexity. Newsweek magazine presents a ranking of the greatest surgical miracles in the history of modern medicine.

1. Removing half the brain. On June 11 of this year, 6-year-old Jessie Hull from Texas had the entire right lobe of her brain removed. The operation was performed by neurosurgeon Ben Carson from Johns Hopkins Children's Medical Center in Baltimore. A rare operation in medicine, called hemispherectomy, was the only salvation for a girl suffering from Rasmussen's encephalitis. In such cases, the remaining half of the brain partially takes over the functions of the remote one (doctors have not yet figured out why this happens). Jessie may have been left paralyzed on her left side for life, but her personality and memory were intact. The Johns Hopkins center performs 12 such operations a year.

2. Operation lasting 4 days. From February 4 to February 8, 1951, for 96 hours straight, doctors at a Chicago hospital removed a giant ovarian cyst from 58-year-old Gertrude Lewandowski. This is the longest operation in the history of world medicine. Before the operation, Gertrude weighed 277 kg, and after it - 138! Surgeons removed the cyst as carefully and slowly as possible to avoid a sharp drop in the patient's blood pressure.

3. Surgery in the womb. Surgeons at Australia's Monash Medical Center operated on a 22-week-old baby in the womb of 22-year-old Kylie Bowlen. A rare anomaly occurred - the amniotic threads pulled the child's ankles, which blocked the blood supply to the knees. In such cases, surgeons dare to operate no earlier than the 28th week of fetal development, but this time there was a threat that the baby would lose both legs. By the time the operation began, the right leg was already infected and inoperable (it was operated on after the child was 4 years old), but the left leg was saved. At the time of surgery, the fetal height was only 17 cm.

4. Surgery on yourself. Do you remember how Vysotsky said: “While you are here in the bathtub with tiles, washing, soaking, shaving, in the cold he is cutting out his own appendix with a scalpel”? In 1921, surgeon Evan O'Neill Kane removed his own appendix using only local anesthesia. Just in case, three doctors stood by in the next room. The operation was so successful that in 1932 Kane performed an even more complex manipulation on himself during the removal of an inguinal hernia, he even managed to joke.

5. Face transplant. In January 2007, 31-year-old Pascal Kohler was operated on for a rare and rather scary disease called neurofibromatosis (Recklinghausen's disease), which horribly disfigured his face. The giant tumor prevented him from eating normally and turned poor Pascal into a recluse. Professor Laurent Lantieri and his colleagues performed a full face transplant from a deceased donor. The operation lasted 16 hours and ended successfully. Kohler does not resemble his anonymous donor in appearance because his facial bones were left intact. It is believed that the famous “elephant man” Joseph Merrick suffered from this disease 100 years ago.

All people want to be healthy and happy. The time has passed when money could not buy health. Now, if you have a sufficient number of banknotes, you can perform almost any operation and restore even severely damaged health.

Many surgical interventions are not just expensive, but very expensive. In addition to the surgeon’s services, the patient must pay for preliminary preparation, rehabilitation, and equipment used during the operation. We should not forget that in some cases a donor must first be found, and this is also associated with significant costs.

Below are ten of the most expensive surgical procedures available today.

1. Tracheostomy ($205 thousand)

A tracheostomy is a procedure in which an incision is made in the throat and a tube is inserted into the trachea to allow the patient to breathe normally. By the way, this is often the only way to save a person if he has serious problems with the respiratory tract.

The operation itself is not too expensive and takes an experienced surgeon literally a few minutes. However, this is followed by a long period of rehabilitation, as well as the use of special equipment that facilitates the process of getting used to the new method of obtaining oxygen. You will definitely have to pay for this.

1. Kidney transplant ($263 thousand)

A very common, but no less complex operation. The kidney is an organ that performs a huge number of functions, and it is extremely difficult to find a donor for the operation. Most often, we are talking about one of the relatives, so that after the transplant the process of rejection does not begin. It is on rehabilitation and medications that help the new organ take root that the most money is spent.

1. Pancreas transplant ($290 thousand)

This surgery is usually performed when the pancreas is affected by cancer. The surgical intervention lasts several hours, and after its completion, you will have to spend at least about one month in the hospital.

1. Open heart surgery ($324 thousand)

A wide variety of problems can arise with the heart. Some patients require a new valve, while others have to have their coronary artery repaired.

The complexity and danger of the operation in this case depends on many factors, but in any case it will be quite expensive. Plus, even after completing treatment, you will have to regularly visit the doctor's office.

1. Liver transplant ($577 thousand)

1. Bone marrow transplant ($677 thousand for a donor and 300 thousand for one taken from the same person)

There is nothing complicated about this surgical procedure. Sometimes even the operation itself is not required in the usual sense of the word, a blood transfusion is enough.

The costs are associated with searching for a donor, conducting a huge number of laboratory tests and a long period of observation with a doctor after the transplant procedure.

1. Lung transplant ($797 thousand for both and 561 thousand for one)

An operation whose popularity has begun to increase in the last few years. It is important to understand that indications for a transplant may include not only respiratory diseases, but also lung collapse, as well as a number of other serious problems. Only experienced surgeons and the most respected clinics perform such operations.

1. Heart transplant ($997 thousand)

This is one of those cases when the operation is fraught with serious danger. It takes not only a lot of money, but also a significant amount of luck for everything to be successful and cause various kinds of negative consequences in the future. Of course, you will also need long-term rehabilitation and many expensive medications.

1. Transplantation of the “Heart-lung” complex (1 million 148 thousand dollars)

Everything is simple here - greater risk and twice the cost. Otherwise, everything is identical to individual operations of this type.

1. Gastrointestinal tract transplant ($1 million 206 thousand)

The gastrointestinal tract is the longest organ in our body. The operation to transplant it can take more than 20 hours, it is so complex and painstaking.

In the future, he will need very long care, not to mention the fact that he may also need a liver transplant, which suffers greatly from any outside interventions.

All that remains is to wish everyone good health, because in this case you won’t have to worry about finding money for operations!

What happens in life... Sometimes paradoxical things happen to us, contrary to logic and beyond explanation. The amazing is nearby. You just have to look closely.

We present to your attention ten of the most incredible medical cases that have occurred. Hang in there, it will be interesting. So, let's go!

1. Highest body temperature

The highest body temperature in the history of medicine was recorded in American Willie Jones (Georgia, Atlanta) in 1980. The thermometer stopped at exactly 46.5°C when the patient was admitted to the hospital. Willie Jones recovered and was released from the hospital 24 days later.

2. Lowest body temperature

The lowest human body temperature recorded was in February 1994 in Regina, Canada. The “owner” of this record low temperature was a two-year-old girl named Carly Kozolofsky. By luck, the baby managed to survive. She spent more than six hours in the bitter cold outside the door of her house, which accidentally slammed shut. Now attention! Her body temperature at the time of recording was only 14.2°C!

3. The largest number of foreign bodies in the stomach

2533 foreign bodies were found in the stomach of a forty-two-year-old woman who suffered from a psychological disorder - compulsive swallowing of objects. Among the “collection” there were 947 pins! With such a load in her stomach, the woman experienced only slight discomfort, which became the reason for contacting doctors.

4. The heaviest object in the stomach

The heaviest foreign object that was removed by doctors from a human stomach in the history of surgery was a huge hairball that weighed 2.35 kilograms. There is a disease in which people swallow hair.

5. Largest number of pills taken

Zimbabwean K. Kilner took 565,939 tablets during his twenty-one year of treatment. This is the largest number of pills ever taken by a person.

6. The largest number of injections

The largest number of injections was given to the Englishman Samuel Davidson. Their number in his entire life was almost 79,000. They injected him with insulin.

7. Longest operation

The longest operation in history lasted almost 100 hours. It was an operation to remove a cyst on the ovary. After it, the patient’s body weight was 140 kilograms. Before surgery she weighed 280!

8. Most operations

The American Charles Jensen underwent the most operations of varying complexity. From 1954 to 1994, he underwent 970 operations. Surgical interventions were carried out due to the need to remove tumors.

9. Longest cardiac arrest

The longest cardiac arrest occurred in the Norwegian Jan Revsdal. A fisherman by profession, he, while performing his professional duties, fell overboard of the ship. This was in the Bergen area. In the icy water, his body temperature plummeted to 24°C and his heart stopped beating. The cardiac arrest lasted four hours. After Ian was connected to a machine that supported artificial blood circulation, he came to his senses and began to recover.

10. The biggest overload

David Perley had to endure the greatest overload. The famous racer was involved in a car accident during a competition in 1977. As a result of this, on a path just over 60 centimeters long, his speed, and accordingly the speed of his body, decreased from 173 kilometers per hour to a complete stop. Doctors counted three dislocations, twenty-nine fractures, and six cardiac arrests on the way to the hospital.

These are extraordinary incidents from the lives of ordinary people. No one is immune from this. Although it is better not to end up in the book of records in the same section with people whose unique cases from their lives we have listed.

These facts are from the category, and they, as we know, are most capable of shocking, so the selection will be impressive, let's get started:

• Let's start with a person who happened to survive the greatest overload and after that remained alive. It's about racing driver David Purley, who in 1977 had an accident on a race track and his body experienced a deceleration from 173 km/h to zero in a period of 66 centimeters. As a result, he received 3 dislocations and 29 fractures, and his heart stopped 6 times!
• Since we are on the topic of cardiac arrest, we cannot help but recall the Norwegian Jan Revsdal, who was able to survive world's longest cardiac arrest. He made his living by fishing, and one day in December he accidentally fell overboard, as a result of which his body temperature dropped to 24 degrees Celsius, while his heart stopped for an astonishing period of 4 hours, and what is even more incredible is that he was able to survive after this, being connected to a heart-lung machine after being taken to the hospital.
• Longest operation lasted 96 hours, during which the patient’s weight decreased by 140 kilograms. (An ovarian cyst was removed).
• But the American Charles Jensen had to go under a scalpel the most times; over the course of 45 years of his life, he underwent 970 operations. (The tumors were removed).
• Surgeries are unpleasant, but injections can also cause inconvenience, especially if their number exceeds 78,900! That’s exactly how many insulin injections the Great Briton Samuel Davidson had to take.

• But tablets are a more humane alternative to injections, but still few people will like to repeat the feat of K. Kilner, who absorbed more than half a million tablets during 21 years of treatment.
• Let's return to the operations, namely the one during which the heaviest foreign object was removed from the human stomach. We are talking about a 2.35 kilogram hairball that was removed from a person suffering from a rare disease that causes him to eat his hair.
• But as for the number, there is no equal to the 42-year-old woman who turned to doctors with “mild abdominal pain.” As a result, 2533 foreign bodies were removed from her, and what’s more, among them were 947 safety pins! (The woman suffered from compulsive swallowing of objects).
• We are approaching the end, I would like to ask you: “ What do you think has been documented without death?» The answer is 14 degrees Celsius! This happened on February 23, 1994 to two-year-old Carly Kazolofsky, who was unable to enter the house through an accidentally locked door, and spent 6 hours in freezing temperatures of -22 °C.
• Well, now it would be logical to remember the highest body temperature that a person managed to survive. It was in 1980, then Willie Johnson was taken to the hospital; his body temperature at that time was 46.6 °C. But after 24 days, the patient was safely discharged.

So, now, when you measure your body temperature if you have a cold, don’t be too scared by 37.7°C, but remember Willie Johnson and realize that everything is not so scary.

A surgical intervention lasting 4 days, a face transplant or an operation on oneself - the history of modern medicine knows cases that cannot be called anything other than a miracle. The TOP of the most amazing operations included “double birth”, heart transplantation, operations on oneself and some other interesting things.

96 hours

Gertrude Lewandowski spent so much time on the surgical table. At the time of hospitalization, the 58-year-old patient weighed 277 kg. Half of her weight was due to a huge ovarian cyst.

Surgeons at the Chicago Hospital began the operation on February 4, 1951, and completed it 4 days later, on February 8. Doctors slowly removed the giant growth so as not to hurt the internal organs and cause a drop in the woman’s blood pressure.

This case went down in the history of medicine as the longest surgical intervention. Gertrude survived and, as she admitted to reporters after discharge, her quality of life had improved significantly.

Your own surgeon

Second place in today's ranking of the most amazing operations is occupied by the experience of Evan Kane. The doctor became famous for operating on himself twice. In 1921, Kane removed his appendix under local anesthesia. He cut it out through an incision in the abdomen and then carefully stitched it up. During the manipulations, the surgeon did not lose consciousness - he even managed to joke. Just in case, there were 3 doctors on duty in the operating room.

Evan repeated the experiment 11 years later. This time the task was more complicated - an inguinal hernia had to be removed. The desperate doctor dealt with it successfully.

In the middle of permafrost

Kane is not the only doctor who has operated on himself. 30 years later, his experience was repeated by the Russian surgeon Leonid Rogozov. He was part of a Soviet expedition in Antarctica when he felt weakness and acute pain. Rogozov diagnosed acute appendicitis.

Conservative treatment did not help - the next day his condition worsened, and helicopters could not deliver him to the nearest station due to weather conditions.

Then Leonid Rogozov decided to operate on himself. The meteorologist handed him surgical instruments, and he held a mirror near his stomach and directed the light of the lamp.

The search for the inflamed appendix took about 40 minutes: during its removal, Rogozov damaged another internal organ and, instead of one wound, stitched two.

A unique operation in permafrost conditions, which made him famous, was carried out by a resident of the Leningrad Medical Institute on April 30, 1961. Vladimir Vysotsky dedicated the song “While you are here in the tiled bathtub...” to him.

Limb replantation

Chinese doctors saved the patient's hand by amputating it and sewing it to his leg. They did this to keep the limb alive. Xiao Wei's arm was torn off at work; the local hospital where he was taken was unable to help the patient. They advised me to go to the regional medical center.

The victim was operated on only 7 hours after the emergency - all this time he kept the severed hand in the refrigerator. Doctors sewed the limb to the patient's left leg to compensate for the blood supply. After 3 months, Wei’s hand was sewn back to her arm.

Twice Born

This miracle is the work of surgeons at the Children's Center in Houston. Patient Keri McCartney turned to them for help when she was 6 months pregnant. The fetus developed a dangerous tumor on the tailbone.

The doctors decided to operate on the expectant mother. They removed Keri's uterus from her body, opened it, and removed the fetus 2/3 of the way out to remove the mass. After the manipulations, the fetus was returned to the uterus, and the uterus was returned to the patient’s body. 10 weeks passed - the baby was born on time and absolutely healthy.

This is one of the most amazing operations on humans, which literally returned a human face to the patient. French resident Pascal Collier was born with a rare disease - Recklinghausen's disease. Until the age of 31, the young man led a reclusive life - a huge tumor disfigured his face, made him an object of ridicule, and did not allow him to eat or sleep normally.

Professor Laurent Lantieri undertook to help the patient. In 2007, he transplanted Pascal's face from a dead donor. The transplant lasted 16 hours, as a result of which the man received a handsome new face.

New blood after transplant

A donor organ transplant will not surprise anyone. And the fact that the patient’s blood Rh factor changed after the transplant is a real miracle. Demi Lee suffered from hepatitis C for several years and had already come to terms with the fact that the virus was slowly killing her liver.

Lee hesitated, but still turned to the clinic for help. After the transplant, the woman was tested; what a surprise the surgeons were when the patient’s blood turned positive instead of negative. Demi herself did not feel any changes.

Two hearts instead of one

San Diego surgeons have performed more than one amazing operation. They were the first to remove the patient's appendix through the mouth and the first to implant a second heart into the patient.

The woman was contraindicated for traditional transplantation - she had a history of pulmonary hypertension and heart failure, so the risk to life was high. Then the doctors decided to transplant an additional heart into the patient.

The operation went well - the transplanted organ works simultaneously with the native heart.