Chinese surgeons save patient who was nearly beheaded by robotic arm

Chinese doctors have saved a patient whose head was nearly severed by a robotic arm.

Doctors said the patient’s cervical vertebrae had been severed and crucial neurovascular structures had been damaged, but the spinal cord remained intact despite sustaining serious contusions.

“We have looked through much literature at home and abroad, but have never come across a case of such severe cervical vertebra separation, let alone one that survived after treatment,” Chen Huajiang, director of the cervical spine surgery department at Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, an affiliate of the Naval Medical University, said.

The patient was hit by a robotic arm on May 31, in an accident that caused instant paralysis and a heart attack, according to the Chinese medical information site Yixue Jie.

The patient also suffered heavy bleeding, which caused both vertebral arteries to become blocked.

The patient’s blood pressure also fell to dangerously low levels and he needed high doses of medication to keep his circulation going.