Leven Rambin 'lucky to be alive' after routine surgery goes wrong

Leven Rambin is recovering after suffering complications during surgery.

The Grey's Anatomy actor went into hospital for what she was expecting to be a "routine endo laparoscopy" to treat endometriosis, but woke up in the intensive care unit following the surgery.

"The complications were complicated," Rambin wrote in the caption of a post-procedure update, later revealing that her surgeon "accidentally nicked my aorta", which is the largest artery in the body.

"I woke up with a bunch of doctors and surgeons saying that I was lucky to be alive," she shared in another video.

Rambin required a blood transfusion and was put on "every med under the sun".

After the surgery, the star, who played Sloan Riley, the estranged, pregnant 18-year-old daughter of Dr Mark 'McSteamy' Sloan on the medical TV drama, was diagnosed with stage one endometriosis with polyps.

She will continue to be monitored in the ICU for at least the next few days.

Rambin is also known for her role as autistic teen Lily Montgomery and her half-sister, Ava Benton, on the US soap All My Children; and for playing the District 1 tribute Glimmer in The Hunger Games.

Her extended recovery time has forced her to quit an upcoming Netflix project she was scheduled to start working on in a few weeks.