- Title: ARGENTINA: Carpenter survives after getting shot in the heart with nail gun
- Date: 10th January 2013
- Summary: FLORENCIO VARELA, BUENOS AIRES PROVINCE, ARGENTINA (JANUARY 10, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PATIENTS IN WAITING ROOM
- Embargoed: 25th January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Health
- Reuters ID: LVAEZI4I8FPG4OMQARHC7UBJTEP8
- Story Text: A 19-year-old carpenter is lucky to be alive after a team of cardiovascular surgeons in Argentina successfully removed a nail lodged in his heart on Tuesday (January 8).
The nail, accidentally shot from a nail gun while the young man was at work in a lumber yard, entered through his sternum and pierced the right heart ventricle.
Director of Patient Care, Doctor Juan Fragomeno, said that it was a remarkable case.
"What is really surprising here is that this nail went through the sternum and the sharp tip got stuck in the ventricle where it acted like a plug. This prevented blood loss that could have occurred," said Fragomeno.
Surgeons were able to extract the eight centimeter nail in an operation that lasted two hours.
Doctor Fragomeno said that the young man is out of danger and should be released from the hospital in the next 48 to 72 hours.
"There are very few cases that we know of like this where the patient survives. This is a noted example of such a case. The fact that the nail was lodged in the heart and that we were able to take it out, and the patient is now in optimum conditions and should be released from the hospital in the next 48 to 72 hours and his life is going to be completely back to normal," said Fragomeno. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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