EVEN the most immediate ­action and unceasing care from leading specialists could not save Phillip Hughes from his catastrophic head injuries.

HUGHES BLESSED WITH THE FATHER OF ALL BELIEVERS

HINDS: NO SENSE IN LOSS OF SUBLIME TALENT

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PHILLIP HUGHES: A LIFE IN PICTURES

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When the cricket ball smashed into the side of Hughes’ neck, it split the main artery supplying blood to his head, causing a chain reaction that placed just too much pressure on his brain.

Damage to the vertebral artery immediately sent bleeding into Hughes’ brain, building up pressure inside his skull that doctors could not overcome.

The extent of the damage would have seen most people die within minutes.

But the specialist care by NSW team doctor John Orchard, paramedics, and Newcastle intensive care specialist Dr Tim Stanley — who had been watching the cricket before rushing on to the ground — gave the batsman a chance to fight for life at hospital.

Once he arrived at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, a CAT scan revealed the seriousness of the injury.

Trauma doctors immediately “intervened” to relieve the building pressure inside Hughes’s head.

But St Vincent’s head of trauma surgery, Dr Tony Grabs, said the huge pressure of the subarachnoid blood pouring from the burst artery meant Hughes had to go straight to theatre for more extreme surgery to remove part of his skull around his brain, allowing the brain to expand.

Following the 80-minute operation, Hughes was taken to intensive care, where he was placed in a coma so that ventilators could take over his breathing and give his shocked brain and body the best chance at recovery.

Ultimately, though, the extent of the injuries was just too much. “The head injury that he suffered was catastrophic,” Dr Grabs said.

“Over the first 25-48 hours, he did not make very much improvement, and unfortunately, as a consequence of the injury, he died.”

A devastated Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, paid tribute to the Cricket NSW medical staff as well as the St Vincent’s medical team for giving Hughes the best chance of surviving his horrific injuries.

“I was simply enormously impressed by the job that they did,” Dr Brukner said.

grant.mcarthur@news.com.au

@mcarthurg