New Delhi: A 45-year-old man, who lived with a bullet lodged dangerously close to his heart for 16 years, has finally undergone a successful surgery to remove it at a private hospital.
Shailender Singh, a resident of Kanpur, was shot in 2008 and came to Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket with chest pain and coughing up blood, according to the hospital statement.
Over the years, Singh had sought multiple opinions from specialists in Kanpur, but due to the bullet being lodged near the vital structures, including his heart and lungs, doctors advised against surgery, the statement said.
Singh received non-surgical treatment and remained symptom-free for years.
Elaborating on the case details, Dr. Shaiwal Khandelwal, Associate Director of Thoracic Surgery at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, who removed both the bullet and the damaged section of Shailender Singh's lung, said, the patient remained asymptomatic until the last year when he developed left-sided chest pain and began coughing up blood (hemoptysis). The quantity and frequency of blood in his cough progressively increased.
"He then consulted us, and his CT scan revealed a bullet in the left lung hilum with collapse and consolidation of the lung. He was advised of surgery, but the patient went back to his hometown to get a second opinion. Soon after, he started coughing up a massive amount of blood, made a distress call, and was admitted to hospital," Khandelwal said.
"His bronchoscopy revealed the bullet was pressing upon the airway, causing active bleeding from the left upper lobe of the lung. An emergency surgery was performed to remove the bullet and the damaged part of the lung. His condition improved significantly after the surgery," Dr. Khandelwal said.
Dr Khandelwal also pointed out that bullets located in dangerous areas and causing no symptoms are usually left untreated.
However, in some cases, these bullets may trigger foreign body reactions, migrate, and invade vital structures, as happened with this patient.
"It is extremely rare to see a long-standing impacted bullet cause life-threatening bleeding. As a life-saving measure, emergency surgery is performed, and sometimes the entire lung may need to be removed. In this case, we removed only the cause of the bleeding and the already damaged lung," he said.
Following a successful surgery, Singh has been discharged and is recovering at home, he added.