Latest news on Reza Amirkhani’s condition / Passing the peak crisis without serious secondary damage / Full stability has not yet been established

According to Khabaronline, Ahmad Mohebbi Ashtiani, a physician and friend of Reza Amirkhani, published an audio file on the author’s family-approved Telegram channel regarding his latest condition, stating:

“What I want to convey to you today is something I have personally explained to some loved ones; to help understand the overall process. Something I hope will be clear and useful for you too. I liken the event to a house catching fire. When a house in a neighborhood catches fire, the first thing that happens is the fire department, representing the immune system, is alerted; those who rush to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. Subsequently, it is natural for the normal course of life in the neighborhood to be disrupted. To the point where even surrounding neighborhoods might be affected. For example, normal traffic routes are closed. While the path remains open for firefighters, police, ambulance, etc. So overall, we witness chaos, disruption, and departure from the normal path. All of this happens to achieve the main goal: extinguishing the fire.

In this situation, the only thing firefighters think about is reaching the center of the fire to put it out. Consequently, many other matters lose importance. For example, if firefighters feel it necessary to break a window, remove a barrier, or demolish a wall to perform their duty… they will certainly do so. To the extent that in large fires, even the collapse of several arches to reach the core of the fire seems insignificant. Because the goal is to perform their duty and extinguish the fire.

The inflammation that occurs in the body is similar. When a severe and widespread injury occurs to the brain due to trauma, the first thing that activates is the immune system. The activation of the immune system in reaction to the initial injury, as mentioned in the house fire example, causes secondary injuries. Among these, brain swelling or cerebral edema is a complication that arises following the immune system performing its duty. The chaos and disorder resulting from immune system activity during inflammation reaches its peak at one point and then subsides. This is why I mentioned from day four and five that we must wait and see what happens. Because the peak activity of the immune system following a brain injury is around the third, fourth, fifth day, and this time frame. Meaning that until then, complications must be closely monitored. Consequently, the medical team’s entire focus was on reducing the edema as much as possible and controlling the complications.

I thank God that we have passed the peak without serious secondary damage, but the immune system is still working and the disorder has not given way to complete calm. In fact, the necessary stability and persistence have not yet occurred. So we are waiting to reach the necessary stability and acceptable level of consciousness across the entire body, all organs, and the nervous system. I hope these explanations are helpful. Furthermore, we must understand that we face a long and very gradual process, and we should not expect changes to happen in one or two days. Finally, I want us to continue praying for the recovery of dear Reza and all patients.”

Reza Amirkhani suffered serious injuries from a paragliding accident on Sunday afternoon, December 9th, and has been in the intensive care unit of Kasra Hospital since then.

Khabaronline news agency hopes that this well-known author and literary critic will recover soon and rise from his sickbed.