[Teamwork in saving the life and lower extremities of a child]

The authors describe the case of a successfully cured severe multiple injury in a seven-year-old boy, who after falling from his bicycle under a lorry suffered a brain injury, injury of the small intestine and of the neurovascular bundle in the retroperitoneal and inguinal area. The author emphasizes that in multiple injuries the life can be saved and best possible function recovered only by a correct algorithm of different surgical procedures in therapeutic care focused first on saving the patient's life and subsequently on restoration of all important functions and application of the maximum of contemporary therapeutic possibilities. The authors describe the life saving revision of the abdominal cavity and arrest of massive haemorrhage, the urgent reconstruction of blood vessels of the left inguinal area made within six hours after the accident and the delayed reconstruction of the femoral nerve made within four months after the injury. The resultant condition is evaluated after a six-year period. The general condition of the injured boy is normal, the functional condition of the left lower extremity can be evaluated clinically and on the basis of EMG as excellent.