A 19-year-old man from Kaohsiung underwent life-saving surgery after developing septic shock and other complications following a diaphragm-busting push-up workout, Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital thoracic surgeon Chang Po-chih (張博智) said.
It is believed that the man, a college student with no disabilities, suffered a catastrophic injury while doing “a few more than 20 push-ups” in late January, Chang was quoted as saying in the Chinese-language Apple Daily.
The man made a full recovery following surgery and 46 days of rehabilitation at the hospital, Chang said.
The man stopped exercising after feeling a “dull pain” in his lower abdomen, which did not abate in the following two days and he eventually lost consciousness and was taken to hospital, Chang said.
The man was diagnosed with septic shock soon after his arrival and examinations revealed a 10cm internal wound in his diaphragm, which had caused his stomach and pancreas to intrude into his thoracic cavity and become gangrenous, Chang said.
The man’s heart was dislocated, a lung had collapsed, and his kidney and liver were failing, Chang said.
The gravity of the man’s injuries required immediate surgery, Chang said, adding that he and general surgeon Wu Cheng-che (巫承哲) removed most of the man’s stomach, his pancreas and 2 liters of pus.
The man then received treatment for liver and kidney failure, peritonitis and sepsis in an intensive care unit, which saved his life, although he continues to return to the hospital on a weekly basis for observation, Chang said.
It was due to his youth and robust state of health that the man recovered from the septic shock, which kills 50 percent of sufferers, Chang said.
The diaphragm is a crucial anatomical structure that separates the thoracic and abdominal cavities, attending thoracic surgeon Lee Yen-lung (李彥龍) was quoted as saying in the newspaper article.
Although the man’s case is a first in medical literature, it is theoretically possible for an abnormally thin diaphragm to tear from doing push-ups, Lee said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods