A Russian man who had experienced pain and discomfort under his ribs for the last nine years was shocked to discover that he had a 9 cm glass shard embedded in his liver.
The 53-year-old unnamed man told doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital, in Russia, that he had long experienced sharp pain and discomfort on the right side of his body, under his ribs, but he never bothered getting it checked out. After finally deciding to seek medical help for his problem, he underwent a CT scan which revealed a sharp object stuck in the right lobe of his liver. When doctors asked what the object might be, the patient told them that he had no idea, as he had no history of trauma, nor could he remember an incident where a sharp object could have entered his body. After operating on the man laparoscopically, surgeons removed a 9-cm-long glass shard from his liver.
Photo: MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE KIROV REGION.
“We were amazed when we saw a piece of glass measuring 88x15x7mm with sharp edges on the endoscopic monitor,” one of the surgeons said. “During the operation, it was discovered that the foreign object was covered with a capsule of connective tissue. This is how the body responds to the intrusion of a foreign object into tissues. It develops aseptic inflammation, and a capsule forms around the foreign object, separating it from healthy tissues.”
Apparently, the 53-year-old man was very lucky to have lived with the foreign object embedded in his liver for over 9 years, as it could have easily caused purulent inflammation and an abscess, which would have required emergency surgery. Even so, the laparoscopic procedure to remove the glass shard was very delicate due to the liver’s rich blood supply and soft consistency, but the surgeons pulled it off without any complications.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF THE KIROV REGION.
Photos of the glass shard have gone viral on Russian social media, leaving people wondering how the man bore the pain it must have caused for almost a decade before finally seeing a doctor about it.
