BHUBANESWAR: A 22-year-old Rourkela-based businessman, with an arrow lodged in his chest, could be saved after doctors at the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here carried out a critical surgery to remove the sharp object.
The arrow had pierced the patient’s lung but had missed the heart. His family rushed him to several hospitals but due to the complexity and the risk, his case was refused. With little hope left, the family brought him to KIMS, where a multidisciplinary team of specialists from the departments of general surgery, CTVS and anaesthesiology planned an emergency operation.
The team was led by Dr Amaresh Mishra, head of department of general surgery. The other surgeons included Dr SK Sahu, Dr PS Pujari, Dr D Hota and Dr S Samal.
The team first opened the abdomen and then the chest to assess the extent of the damage. “When we opened the chest, we found that the arrow had pierced the lung. By God’s grace, it had narrowly missed the heart.
As soon as the arrow was removed from the lungs, bleeding started which had to be controlled immediately,” the doctors said. The damaged portion of the lung was successfully repaired during the surgery. “The patient has recovered well,” they added.
“These types of injuries are very risky. In many cases, patients die the moment the arrow is removed. One fortunate aspect in this case was that none of the hospitals they visited had attempted to remove the arrow. That gave us the opportunity to plan the surgery properly,” the doctors said. Founder of KIIT and KISS Achyuta Samanta congratulated the doctors.