Doctors successfully removed an 8-centimetre (3 inch) long nail from the head of a 55-year-old man in Nanjing, China on Friday.
Footage broadcast by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the man, known only as Mr. Yang, recovering well in hospital following surgery.
According to the report, the nail became lodged in his head during an accident that occurred while Yang was decorating his house.
However, Yang did not realise the nail was was in his head until he began to feel ill the next day.
“I didn’t know where it had gone, but it had ripped into my head and left a small hole on the skin,” Yang told reporters at his bedside on Friday.
CT scans of Yang’s head showed that the nail had become deeply lodged.
On Friday, doctors explained how risky the operation to remove the nail was.
“If we pulled the nail out directly, the surgical risk would be quite high,” said neurosurgeon Luo Liangsheng.
“Arteries and nerves might have been damaged during the process,” Luo continued.
Considering this danger, doctors performed a craniotomy on Yang, a procedure whereby a piece of the skull is removed to gain access the brain.
According to CCTV, Yang is now in a stable condition and neither his eyesight nor any nerves were damaged in the procedure.
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