Cheerleader dies during breast surgery
Bubbly, well-liked, and college-bound -- 18-year-old Stephanie Kuleba had the world at her fingertips. But she elected to have cosmetic surgery to correct what she viewed as a flaw: asymmetrical breasts and an inverted areola. 24 hours after surgery, Kuleba died. She suffered a rare reaction -- called malignant hyperthermia -- to the anesthesia. The rare condition causes body temperature to skyrocket and is very difficult to detect pre-surgery. If the condition isn't recognized and treated immediately it is fatal, as it was in Kuleba's case. Though Kuleba would likely have had this reaction regardless of the type of surgery performed, her death is bringing to light the numbers of young girls getting cosmetic surgery. In 2005, more than 3,500 young girls elected to have breast augmentation surgery.












Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-26-2008 @ 9:58PM
Dr. J said...
It seems to me the "mistake" was doing this procedure under general anesthesia. They most likely used an inhalation anesthetic with the rare side effect of M.H. Usually procedures like this are done with a deep sedation anesthetic, which has no relation to causing this most unfortunate side effect. I do not know who made the choice of which type of anesthesia to use. This comment only addresses the direct cause of the death, not the choice of having the procedure.
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