4cm broken blade removed from 1-year-old girl's brain
Medical experts at Xinhua Hospital successfully removed a 4-centimeter broken knife blade from the brain of a 1-year-old girl, the hospital announced on Friday.
The girl was taken to the hospital by her parents four days after the incident, after hospitals in Jiangshan, Zhejiang Province, couldn't solve the problem.
She had been playing with a fruit knife at home and accidentally fell to the floor, causing the knife to pierce her brain above the left eye.
Her family took her to a local hospital, which disinfected and sutured the wound. But the eye became swollen the next day and a CT scan found the broken blade inside the brain.
Doctors said the blade had completely entered the brain and recommended the parents take the girl to Shanghai for treatment.
They arrived at Xinhua on Monday afternoon and experts arranged the surgery for Wednesday.
Doctors successfully removed the blade, avoiding further injury to brain tissue.
"Since the wound was sutured and the blade had stayed inside the body for over 80 hours, there are risks of bleeding, infection, epilepsy and cerebral infarction," said Dr Ma Jie, the child's chief surgeon.
"We will closely monitor and follow her recovery."
"Parents must be careful about dangerous items at home and keep them away from children. If having injury on the head, it is important to go to the hospital immediately," Ma said.
Medical experts discuss the case before surgery. CT shows the blade's position in the brain.
The broken blade removed from the girl's brain.
