AIIMS Delhi doctors successfully removed a six-inch-long knife from a man’s back in a difficult surgery after a stabbing incident.
The patient, a 30-year-old man who is a native of Haryana’s Karnal, allegedly suffered an injury in his effort to protect his jewellery shop from a robbery on July 12.
According to a doctor at AIIMS Delhi, the removal of the knife was done on the next day of the incident.
"The patient came to the emergency of the hospital in the late evening of the same day with the knife still impaled in his back. The surgical procedure of posterior decompression with removal of knife and posterior fixation was done on July 13," AIIMS Trauma Centre chief Dr Kamran Farooque said.
The patient was stabbed at around 2 pm and he was shifted to two different hospitals before reaching the trauma centre at around 10 pm.
Patient referred to AIIMS Delhi
Dr Farooque said that the patient was referred to AIIMS Delhi in view of his condition.
"It was a challenging case as he was stabbed in the back and therefore, the position of the patient which we normally keep during resuscitation or during imaging and surgery is supine. But in this case, the patient could not have lied on the back because any movement of the knife could have caused further injury to the spinal cord," Dr Amit Gupta from the Department of Surgery said.
Describing the complexity of the case, the doctor said, “The blade of the knife was just 2 or 3 millimetres away from the great vessel aota which carries blood from the heart. At least, six inches of the knife was inside.”
Dr Farooque said that the CT scan showed that the knife had gone through the vertebral column breaking the bone.
The knife had also pierced the spinal canal which holds the spinal cord and into the body of the vertebra, he said.
"The knife was taken out with very careful dissection around the spinal cord. The covering of the spinal cord was repaired and also stabilised the vertebral column by rods," he explained.
The doctor said that the condition of the patient is improving.
(With PTI inputs)
ALSO READ | AIIMS MBBS Admissions 2023 Dates OUT at aiimsexams.edu.in, complete schedule here
ALSO READ | 'Quash interviews in PhD selection process, entrance exam should be held twice', AIIMS proposes
