Man escapes with a rod pierced through the face

Now recuperating at the AIIMS Trauma Centre, Bhuvneshwar, a resident of Raya near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, thanks his stars and doctors for saving his life as well as his eyes.

Returning from his office on his motorcycle on September 9, he was hit from behind by a vehicle which landed him on one of the iron bars by the side of the nearby railway line.
"He ended up being stuck at the accident site as a thick and pointed iron rod had penetrated into the centre of his skull from the left side of his face while making its way out through the first and second vertebrae of his spinal cord," Sumit Sinha, Neurosurgeon at AIIMS Tauma Centre where he was brought a day after the accident.
The doctor said Bhuvneshwar, who was referred from an Agra hospital, walked in with the rod sticking out.

"Had he worn a helmet, it would have saved him from this ghastly state. The rod is out and he is now recovering. Thanks to the police there who did not try to take the rod out of his skull but cut it on both sides and brought him to the hospital, else he would have succumbed to his injuries," AIIMS Trauma Centre chief Dr M C Misra said.

However, Sinha cautioned, "What we fear now is the most common post operative complication in his case is of infection. He might end up having bacterial over growth. There is a leakage of the cerebrospinal fluid in such accidents. This fluid surrounds the brain and spinal cord and if leakage happens, it can lead to an infection of the the brain itself."

Giving details about the surgery, Sinha said, "We operated through his mouth but giving anaesthesia was difficult due to the positioning of the rod.

"Once the rod was visible we had to drill it and tear open certain muscles so that the tightness with which the rod was stuck could be reduced. Once done, another doctor slowly pulled out the rod from upward near the eye," A K Mahapatra, Professor of Neurosurgery, AIIMS said.

He said it was a challenging surgery as the doctor had to be careful to not inflict any additional damage. "The rod had already broken the neck bones and that had to be taken care of immediately too. They had to preserve the vision and also save the spinal cord while taking the rod out," he said.