Stunned medical professionals made a surprising discovery when they found a man had been unknowingly living with a sizable knife blade lodged in his chest for a period of eight years.
The 44-year-old individual sought medical attention at a hospital due to pus discharge beneath his right nipple, presenting a perplexing case for the attending healthcare providers as he displayed no other related symptoms. Despite the absence of chest pain, breathing difficulties, coughing, or fever, and with his vital signs showing normalcy, the medical team was initially puzzled. It was only when the patient recounted an incident from almost a decade ago involving a violent altercation where he sustained multiple cuts to different parts of his body, including the chest, that the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
Following the altercation, the man reported leading an uneventful life until the emergence of pus below his nipple prompted his visit to the hospital. Subsequent chest X-rays revealed the root cause of his ailment – a large knife blade embedded in his mid-thorax, having entered through the right scapula without causing damage to major organs.
Surgical intervention was carried out to carefully remove the knife blade, and the pus, attributed to dead tissue, was drained as part of the procedure. The patient was kept under observation in the intensive care unit for 24 hours before being transferred to a general ward for a 10-day stay under close monitoring by the medical team.
The case, which was documented in the Journal of Surgical Case Reports, detailed the successful recovery of the patient who underwent treatment at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania. Follow-up appointments indicated a smooth and uneventful progression in his health.
In a separate incident, healthcare providers were alarmed when they discovered a pair of scissors accidentally left inside the abdomen of a woman who had complained of persistent abdominal pain. Kamla Bai, aged 44, had undergone a surgical procedure on February 20, 2022, during which the scissors were inadvertently left inside her and subsequently stitched up. A CT scan conducted later exposed the presence of the scissors, causing her discomfort and illness.
Following her complaints of pain, Ms. Bai received medical attention from multiple physicians and underwent various diagnostic tests at Kamla Raja Hospital in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. Her family is now seeking accountability from the healthcare professionals involved, attributing negligence to the ongoing suffering experienced by Ms. Bai.
Scan technician Satish Sharma confirmed the identification of a metallic object on November 29, 2024, which was later confirmed to be the scissors left inside the woman’s abdomen.