 Poster: A snowHead
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Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger may have to have his left leg amputated after developing serious vascular problems since he broke it yesterday. The 27-year-old fell in the World Cup super-G race in Kvitfjell (Norway), and was taken to hospital in Oslo with concussion and a broken leg. Professor Thomas Holzenbein, an eminent angiologist from Salzburg, has examined the skier and has found he is suffering from an “exceptionally serious vascular illness”....
Lanzinger, who underwent a 9-hour operation last night, will undergo a second operation tonight. He has been put into an artificial coma since the first operation because of the seriousness of his situation.
The incident has raised questions as to why no helicopter was available on site. Lanzinger had to be taken to Lillehammer in a commercial helicopter, after a row of seats was removed to carry his stretcher. The hospital did not have adequate facilities to treat him, so he was then flown to Oslo.
Sources: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUZvqFGuIshaz16IGXO_C32AEoqQ and
http://www.kurier.at/sportundmotor/135780.php (in German)
The race was won by team-mate Georg Streitberger with a time of 1:26.68 seconds. Bode Miller came 2nd in 1:26.88, and Didier Cuche (Switzerland) came 3rd in 1:27.00.
See: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/02/sports/EU-SPT-SKI-ALP-WCup-Mens-Super-G-Results.php
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I really hope this doesnt have to happen. It'd be such a shame. I feel for Lazinger and his family.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We watched it yesterday & it looked horrific. The guys on the poddium turned their heads, unable to watch. I hope he's ok
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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A terrible accident, sincerely wish him the best - and that he makes a full recovery. I think that compound fractures can often give rise to vascular complications and the possibility of amputation? 
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OMG 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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What a horrendous fall, demonstrating yet again how backward is the science in setting ski binding release values at racing speeds. His leg should have been protected. At recreational speeds, skiers' legs are so effectively protected from fracture but at racing speeds one wonders if there are recognised scientific release values ... or is it mainly guesswork?
Hopefully his boot and binding can be married up so that some testing and evaluation can take place. No racer should experience that horror.
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Tue 4-03-08 0:19; edited 1 time in total
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I saw it live and winced when I saw what had happened. I too couldn't understand why his binding didn't release. My initial thoughts were that although it appeared a serious injury he would hopefully make a full recovery and get back to racing again. To hear he might lose his leg is awful. Ski racers give us so much pleasure in marvelling at their skill and bravery it is sometimes easy to forget how dangerous it can be. If any good comes out of it maybe they can discover why it happened to protect other racers. In the meantime my thoughts are with him and would like to wish him good luck. 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Given the very small number of top racers in the world, there does seem to be a high rate of really serious, even fatal, injuries. I wonder if any other "official" sport claims quite such a high proportion of its participants as victims?
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it is sometimes easy to forget how dangerous it can be
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I don't personally ever forget; my heart is in my mouth every time I watch them, and it's horrible to see them crash.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You're right of course. Believe me, my admiration knows no bounds.
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Its a horrible incident, and a horrible ordeal for him and his family no doubt.
I know it's not nice to talk about, but what seems to make it worse is the fact that after the binding failed to release initially and the leg broke, it looks as if there was nothing to push against but a limp leg, and therefore no chance for the binding to release. It looks like that's where the major damage was caused. Would it be possible to invent some kind of panic button binding release system that the racers could whack in a big crash to prevent that kind of injury? Maybe it all happens too fast.
Hope you're back up on your feet soon Matthias 
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You know it makes sense.
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
What a horrendous fall, demonstrating yet again how backward is the science in setting ski binding release values at racing speeds. His leg should have been protected. At recreational speeds, skiers' legs are so effectively protected from fracture but at racing speeds one wonders if there are recognised scientific release values ... or is it mainly guesswork?
Hopefully his boot and binding can be married up so that some testing and evaluation can take place. No racer should experience that horror. |
Picking race binding settings isn't totally guesswork. The DIN scale is designed to protect against low speed falls, as a racer you can pretty much assume that you will just fall at high speed on fairly smooth snow/ice. For men in tech events, setting them to your weight in stone seems to work fine, but you will typically have been experimenting with different settings since your early teens and the consequence of a pre-release is not too bad. I don't ski speed events, but the kids that I know start with their GS settings and work from there.
Lanzinger seemed to me to have scrubbed off a lot of speed before his second ski had any force against it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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In the local Austria press there is a lot of criticism regarding the time it took to get Matthias into the operating theatre (ca 6 hours after the crash). He was flown in a commercial helicopter reserved for VIP's because the funds were not made available for an emergency helicopter to be on standby. There's something wrong when spectators are flown in to see the speed races but no emergency helicopter to fly the injured out is made availlable. The rear seats had to be taken out of the helicopter to get the stretcher in. Matthias was taken to another smaller hospital until people realized they didn't have the facilities to deal with him so he was flown onto Olso. The doctor who saved Herman Maiers leg said that after such an injury every second counts. It is still uncertain whether the leg can be saved.
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Poster: A snowHead
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It was a horrible crash - we were watching on Eurosport and neither of us could look at the TV when they were showing reruns of the crash. Seems terrible that no medical helicopter was available and that he was not immediately taken to a hospital that could deal with his injuries - I really hope for his sake that this incompetence doesn't lead to the loss of his leg I think they said something at the time about the binding possibly not releasing because of the way he crashed - not enough force exerted at the right angle or whatever? As others have said the DINs for racers are carefully worked out and in most crashes I think the skis do release - this was just a really terribly unfortunate incident. Racers know that these kinds of things can happen and accept the risks and I think that really attention should be focused on the delay in appropriate treatment after the crash had happened. And most respect to all of these guys and girls who do literally risk life and limb every time they go out to race on the speed courses
element, think it all happens too fast for any sort of "panic button" system - certainly from Lanzingers crash he seemed to be knocked unconscious early on, certainly before the leg broke so probably wouldn't have done him any good.
all the best to Matthias and his family.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Get well soon almost heaved watching it All the best
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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F***! the leg has to be amputated.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Lots of sad stories around this morning
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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DB, is that for the definate?
what is the medical explanation for why they need to amputate?
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| Christopher wrote: |
DB, is that for the definate?
what is the medical explanation for why they need to amputate? |
Yes it's definate. I'm no doctor (perhaps the docs here can shine a light on it) but suspect it is because the leg lost the blood flow - much the same as amputation is required after frost bite. They took a vein out of the good leg to and put it in the injured leg to improve blood flow. As I understand it - the longer the limb suffers reduced blood flow the less likely it is that it will recover. The 6 hour wait for the first operation wouldn't of helped but unsure if this or the extent of the injuries were the determining factor.
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sad news indeed, just saw it on the eurosport website. Austrian ski federation say
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| As a result of irreparable tissue damage an amputation to avoid lasting serious damage is unavoidable. |
still unclear if that's purely because of the extent of the injury or if delay in treatment will have affected the outcome, as DB, says.
terribly sad news.
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So very sad. It does seem awful that the delay getting him into an operating theatre was so long, given that this was an event in which serious crashes were easily foreseeable. Even if it might not have made much difference, he will find it difficult to forgive that delay. I think ordinary skiers injured in an unlucky fall on a blue piste somewhere are frequently got into hospital faster than that, and choppers seem to be available without big delays.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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OUCH!!!!!!!!
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Sickened.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Poor guy.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I missed the race on Sunday but do have it on Sky +.
After watching the clip on You Tube from the above link I now feel sick to the bottom of my stomach. My heart goes out to the poor guy and his family.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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geri, poor girl. That's another very sad story.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A friend of the family lost their leg from the knee down a couple of years ago, The recovery was amazing 7 weeks from amputation to first prostetic Couldnt belive how well he did and how quickly he has recovered physicall but the mental damage has been huge.
I am sure as an athlete he will work on getting on with his life and I am sure he will have all the best of help on this my thoughts and prayers go out for him
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Story here.
I, too, watched it Eurosport. One of the most sickening things I have seen .
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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that video is horrible. Im very suprised that the ski didnt come off.
Hope he recovers soon with no more complications. Thats going to be one hell of a shock when he wakes up.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Having seen what happened to him, I can't imagine his leg is going to be much use to him. It must be like minestrone inside. He's probably be better off with a prosthetic.
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The Kurier story (in German) tells now that his leg was indeed amputated in an urgency operation and he is not in imminent danger anymore after that his condition stabilised.
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The doctors have said that after around 6 to 8 hours without blood/oxygen flow to the tissue then the tissue dies. They had to remove the lower leg to eliminate the risk on his life and stabilise his condition. Herman Maier (who also nearly lost a leg) along with various other ski stars have pledged support for Matthias.
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I saw the video only now - it looked horrible. The amputation has to be devastating news to everyone involved, from Lanzi to his family and supporters.
When the immediate shock will have eased, the question will be, if the Fischer bindings (I understand his skis, boots and bindings all are the same brand) worked as they should have, and if not, why not. Another obvious question will be around the organisation of the competition and access to high quality medical care.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Christopher wrote: |
DB, is that for the definate?
what is the medical explanation for why they need to amputate? |
When you break a bone, far more important than the bone itself is the damage to the soft tissues surrounding the bone, which get traumatised by the repeated bending and stretching. The initial aim of any surgery is to stabilise the soft tissues, and restore their blood supply to keep them healthy, which in turn will generally allow any underlying bone to heal in time. In this case, this poor man's leg has effectively been minced, as you can see from the film. It is likely that the soft tissue is dying and releasing toxins into his blood stream, which will be making him dangerously unwell. In cases like these, unfortunately it often comes down to a choice of losing the leg, or losing the man.
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I only just heard the news. What a horrible event- poor man. I don't think I'll watch the video.
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