Ganesan (26), a tasmac bar in-charge at Padappai, miraculously survived a stab on his chest with a five-inch long kitchen knife in a drunken brawl, after the knife was removed through surgery at the Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital here on Tuesday.
Ganesan, a native of Ramanathanpuram district, was stabbed on the chest during a quarrel with fellow workers on Saturday night and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
He was considered a very rare case, as doctors found that the knife was totally buried in his body and the handle was missing. The doctors think that the handle could have broken when the culprits attempted to pull the weapon out. The knife had pierced through the anterior, right side of the body exactly between the heart and the left lung. The sharp tip of the weapon was compressing the right main bronchus of the respiratory system.
“The knife was right next to the heart and about 1 mm away from the lungs. Had the knife pierced the bronchus or the heart, he would have died immediately. Even if it had pierced the lung, he wo-
uld have died in one or two hours,” explained Dr Jothili-
ngam, Asst professor, Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Department, RGGGH.
Though both the heart and lungs were safe, his thymus gland, azygos vein, which is an alternative path for blood to the right atrium and right phrenic nerve, which is considered important for breathing were all damaged.
A team of five doctors at RGGGH performed a five-hour long surgery on early Sunday morning when they removed the knife, measuring over 12 cm in length and 15 mm in width, by supporting the organs, veins and vessels around it.
After a day in ventilator, Ganesan recalled that he lost conscious, the moment
he was stabbed by his fellow worker, who brought the knife from the kitchen. “I am feeling much better now,” he said.
