A patient with Crohn’s disease underwent surgery for intestinal obstruction and related complications. He remained in a persistent vegetative state afterward.
Persistent vegetative state after surgery
This was not an emergency operation. Before surgery the patient was in a depleted state, with recent weight loss of 10 kg and hemoglobin of 82 g/L. Preoperative nutritional optimization should have been considered, such as a combined enteral and parenteral nutrition plan to improve his physical condition. A staged approach with stoma creation rather than immediate extensive resection could have been chosen. This might have reduced the risk of serious complications. The current persistent vegetative state represents one such severe complication.
If the patient had contacted our website at the same time as seeking medical care early in the course of his illness, his Crohn’s disease might have been better controlled, his overall condition would have been stronger, and he might have tolerated surgery better. Perhaps surgery would not even have been needed.