In a fascinating, and thankfully rare case, an 11-year-old boy who had been impaled with a three-foot long iron road was successfully operated on in NEIGRIHMS last week.
According to a release by Dr Reuben Lamiaki Kynta of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) today, the boy, from Jaintia Hills, reported to the Casualty unit last week after falling onto the iron rod, which had punctured the right side of his chest, traversed behind the right collar bone and ended up behind the nape of the neck.
A CT scan revealed that the penetration course of the rod grazed important blood vessels and nerves supplying the right arm.
In view of the risk to the blood supply of the limb, which could have resulted in its amputation, a decision for emergent removal of the rod was taken by the attending doctors.
The patient was anesthetized by Dr Kaustuv Dutta and Dr Sonia Nahakpam and surgery was conducted by the cardiothoracic team led by Dr Kynta, Dr Dathia Tongper, Dr Biman Chandra Sinha and Dr L Janendro Singh.
The right chest was opened, explored and the rod extracted with controlled manipulation to minimize injury to the great vessels and nerves supplying the right upper arm, which were inspected and for which control of bleeding was carried out.
The patient has made a smooth recovery with restoration of full function and mobility of his right upper arm.
Dr Kynta was keen to remind the public, through intimation of this case, that in case objects are impaled in the body, “an attempt to remove the object should not be attempted”, rather the patient should be taken to medical facility as soon as possible.
