Iron Rod That Fell From 20th Floor Of A Building Pierces Man's Skull, Victim Survives

KEY POINTS

The iron rod pierced his forehead near the right side of the cranium
The doctors had to remove a portion of the skull during the surgery
Doctors say he will need extensive physiotherapy and rehabilitation

In a medical miracle of sorts, doctors in India have successfully removed an iron rod from a man's skull after he met with an accident at work. The rod that fell off the 20th floor of a building under construction had pierced the right side of the man's head.

The rod was removed via a surgery that lasted four hours, and the doctors said the patient only had a 90% chance of survival when he was brought to the hospital, reported The Times Of India.

The accident happened on July 31 at a construction site in the Indian city of Ghaziabad. The report added that the man was a worker at the site. He was on the ground while the 20-feet-long rod, that came off a scaffolding, came crashing down. The rod speared through the man's forehead as he look up after hearing the sound.

The workers immediately cut off the remaining portion of the rod before bringing him to the Flores Hospital. Immediately afterward, a team of seven doctors immediately started the life-saving surgery.

"When the patient was brought to the hospital, his condition did not look promising at all. He had 12mm of the iron rod protruding out from the front and back of his head," Dr M K Singh, director of the hospital, told The Times Of India.

The four-hour surgery was a challenging one for the team. "I had to open half the skull to separate the iron rod from the bone. The toughest part was to remove the iron rod from the brain without doing any further damage to it. The skull bone has now been kept under the skin in the abdomen to keep it viable. We are monitoring the patient closely, and the outcome looks positive," Dr. Abhinav Gupta, neurosurgeon, told the news outlet.

However, the doctors have warned that the patient's left side will be paralyzed as the rod pierced the right side of his cranium. The patient is currently breathing on his own but has a long way to total recovery.

According to the doctors, he will need physiotherapy and rehabilitation in the future. Another surgery will be conducted in two months to fix the portion of the skull that was removed.