LUCKNOW: Doctors at King George’s Medical University (KGMU) saved the life of a 40-year-old man after a 13-cm knife remained lodged deep inside his chest, piercing his right lung and narrowly missing a major vein that carries blood to the heart.The man, an assault victim, was brought to KGMU’s Trauma Centre with the knife still embedded in the right side of his chest. Doctors said the blade had penetrated a critical area of the lung and injured a blood vessel supplying the organ, putting him at risk of severe internal bleeding.The emergency surgery was led by Dr Vaibhav Jaiswal, additional professor in the department of trauma surgery, with support from cardiothoracic surgeons, anaesthetists and critical care specialists.Doctors said one of the most crucial decisions was not to remove the knife before surgery. “The blade was acting like a plug and restricting blood loss. Removing it before reaching the operation theatre could have caused massive bleeding,” a member of the surgical team said.When the patient arrived, he was in shock, with a blood pressure of 84/64 mmHg and a pulse rate of 122 beats per minute. Doctors first stabilised him before taking him for emergency surgery.Surgeons opened the chest to access the damaged lung and blood vessel. They removed nearly 500 ml of blood and clots from the chest cavity, repaired the injured vessel and then carefully extracted the knife. Doctors were able to save the lung without removing any major portion of it.The patient was later shifted to the intensive care unit in a stable condition and is recovering well, doctors said.Doctors described the case as highly challenging, saying the knife had come within millimetres of a major vein carrying blood back to the heart. Any movement of the blade could have triggered uncontrollable bleeding and proved fatal.Prof Samir Misra cautioned against removing objects embedded in the body after an injury. “Such objects may temporarily restrict severe bleeding and should be removed only by trained surgeons in an operation theatre,” he said.
