major shattered femur break trauma leading to drop in oxygen

[paule51]

My mother somehow  - a mystery - had her femur shattered - she told me about it while struggling to speak w/ low oxygen at a minimum 2 1/4hours later when I was allowed to see her- no one told us about break and about very low oxygen - O2  - 81- thereafter she started trembling, convulsions, and has been minimally responsive since then - dr. is not talking - Break was diagnosed in E.R. after she started shaking & non acute hosp where she was did not say anything to us - found her fine.
What kind of MRI can date when the recent stroke occurred? I am told that she had a stroke sometime after the break - as before hand she was herself. Please respond. Anyone have any personal experience with a good stroke neuro in Boston?

[Dr Rajgopal]

Hi,
It may be a Stroke or a result of Hypoxia resulting from profuse bleeding following the fracture of Femur. As age advances there is progressive weakening of bones leading to easy fractures. There may have been a sudden fall in blood  pressure following bleeding leading to the lack of oxygen to the brain. Please go for a CT scan of the brain and ECG to find out the cause. If it is a stroke, it can be detected on a CT. Please consult a cardiologist as well as a neurologist for the diagnosis. Hope this helps you. Take care and regards!  

[ggreg]

Don't have personal experience or know any neuros in Boston, but I can tell you a couple things that may or may not be involved in this situation.  Sometimes older ladies can have osteoporosis, which is a weakening of the structure of bone, and that may have been why her femur disintegrated.  Now, sometimes if a big bone breaks, if it damages a nearby artery, why, that can cause issues with how much blood and thus oxygen is getting to the brain.  But if they did a scan and also if they are competent ER folks, they should know the difference between a stroke and a bleed-out in the leg.  Just wanted to tell you what came to me when I read what happened to your mother.  I feel for you, but you definitely need to get a good cardiologist involved in this situation, plus, as you pointed out, a good neurologist, since stroke has been diagnosed and involves both the circulatory system and brain activity.  Assuming you are at Mass General, you are in a great hospital, and they have some of the best neurologists and cardiologists in the country on their staff, so you could ask for a couple of them to come in as a consult, or they can recommend private docs who are expert in the Boston area to consult with you.  If you're not at Mass General, you may want to consider if your mother can be transferred over there.