Shocking! Doctors in AIIMS Removed 20 Centimetre Long Knife from Liver of 28-Year-Old Man

New Delhi: The doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) removed a 20-centimetre long kitchen knife from the liver of a 28-year-old man. The man had swallowed the knife about one-and-a-half-months ago. The doctors were left baffled as to how he gulped down the knife without any damage being caused to his vital organs.

The man, who hails from Haryana, was referred by Safdarjung Hospital to AIIMS for the surgery on July 12. The patient went to the emergency ward of the hospital first, Dr N R Das from the Department of Gastroenterology at AIIMS told ANI . He was first tested for COVID-19 to rule out the coronavirus infection.

A doctor at the hospital said that the patient had a medical history of drug dependency. He swallowed a knife around one-and-a-half-months ago after he couldn’t get marijuana. He initially tried to chew it but finally gulped it down with water.

“He was living a normal life after swallowing the knife. His family was unaware of this incident. About one-and-a-half months later, he started getting pain in his stomach and family took him to a doctor for a check-up. The entire family got shocked when they saw his X-ray report showing a 20-cm-long knife inside his body,” doctors said.

The man underwent three-hour-long surgery on July 19.

“The surgery was very challenging. The patient’s X-ray report showed that the knife was placed near the liver. It took us nearly three hours to us to operate upon him and take the knife out from his abdomen,” Dr Das said.

“It was a complex surgery because the knife was placed close to the bile duct and blood vessels. A minor mistake could even put his life at a major risk. So we planned everything. First, a radiologist removed pus from the patient’s lungs and liver to stop the infection from spreading further and after counselling by the psychiatrists, he was given supplements to get the strength to undergo this complex surgery,” Dr Das told the news agency. He added that the knife was taken out under radioscopy guidance.

The doctors said that there are reports of small needles and fish bones going into liver after perforating duodenum, however, ingestion of such a big sharp knife has not been reported. They are searching for more medical literature.

The doctors created a food pipe in his abdomen during the surgery. He is being given food through that tube. The man is also receiving psychiatric treatment.

The patient was kept under observation after the surgery. He is in a stable condition and would be given food orally soon