Advice Needed - C2 Complete SCI

Playboy

Hi All

My wifes father was in a car accident last weekend in Egypt and he seems to have suffered a complete injury at C2 level. The accident was on Friday Night last week and he did have an intial operation on his arrival at the hospital. I'm not sure what was done in this operation but he did have a second surgery on Tuesday morning at 5 am which lasted for 12 hours and we think the purpose of it was to regulate his breathing so he could breath on his own. He now seems to be able to breath on his own but has no sensation below his neck. Its quite difficult to get accurate information from there at the moment but we have requested his medical records in english.

I should mention that my wife and her father are Egyptian but my wife lives with me here in the UK. We are very concerned about the quality of medical care/rehabilitation/aftercare/surgeons in Egypt. We would like to get some reccommendations about who would be the best surgeon/consultant to speak to in the UK to get advice when we get copies of his medical records.

We would also like to know about any treatment options available for someone with this kind of injury and where would be the best place in the world for him (money is no object as the family are wealthy) get access to any care or treatments he needs. I have heard that Israel is quite advanced in relation to their treatment for these kind of injuries (stem cells etc)? Could anyone confirm for me if this is true as Israel is very close in terms of distance. I would also like to know if traveling long distances with this kind of injury is dangerous as potentially if the best treatment is available somewhere like Japan or the US then obviously we would want to take him there.

Thanks

tallaght01

I've re-opened the thread, and edited out the bits asking for medical advice, OP, feel free to edit it further to make it more readable. I'm uneasy about this, as you could get some really really bogey info out there.

But, with the situation being what it is, we've discussed it, and the opinion seems to be to leave it open.

Good luck, but please e very careful about what advice you take.

drzhivago

Playboy wrote: »

Hi All

My wifes father was in a car accident last weekend in Egypt and he seems to have suffered a complete injury at C2 level. The accident was on Friday Night last week and he did have an intial operation on his arrival at the hospital. I'm not sure what was done in this operation but he did have a second surgery on Tuesday morning at 5 am which lasted for 12 hours and we think the purpose of it was to regulate his breathing so he could breath on his own. He now seems to be able to breath on his own but has no sensation below his neck. Its quite difficult to get accurate information from there at the moment but we have requested his medical records in english.

Tricky question and will do my best
Best way to get information is to liaise with Department of Foreign Affairs here and Egyptian embassy
Some very good Egyptian Doctors here
Egypt has quite advanced care in many areas
Spinal and Neurosurgery are highly specialised areas, countries which offer these services have a level of care so would not overtly worry about the standard of treatment
america world leaders in most areas/ Israel quite good in some things/ australia good and Ireland UK also have leaders in some areas.

Playboy wrote: »

I should mention that my wife and her father are Egyptian but my wife lives with me here in the UK. We are very concerned about the quality of medical care/rehabilitation/aftercare/surgeons in Egypt. We would like to get some reccommendations about who would be the best surgeon/consultant to speak to in the UK to get advice when we get copies of his medical records.

Where are you, sorry to point out obvious but this is Boards.ie that means Ireland. Not a lot of people here will necessarily know which units in Uk are best

Playboy wrote: »

We would also like to know about any treatment options available for someone with this kind of injury and where would be the best place in the world for him (money is no object as the family are wealthy) get access to any care or treatments he needs. I have heard that Israel is quite advanced in relation to their treatment for these kind of injuries (stem cells etc)? Could anyone confirm for me if this is true as Israel is very close in terms of distance. I would also like to know if traveling long distances with this kind of injury is dangerous as potentially if the best treatment is available somewhere like Japan or the US then obviously we would want to take him there.
Thanks

Would need to know a little more hard fact about what his injuries are before commenting but someone involved in a car accident with a spinal injury may often have significant other injuries which though not life threatening could impact on ability to safely transfer patient

Also someone with that high a cord injury will have depressed respiration, flights are pressurised which may interfere with mechanics of respirations

In addition concentration of Oxygen a little lower at altitude which also may have a detrimental effect.

Your relative would also need a special plane to be moved, very expensive if he does not have travel insurance, they may only want to evacuate him to home base and not to another jurisdiction where they may have to evacuate him again