UP Doctors Pull Off Miracle, Remove 13cm Knife Near Man's Heart; He Survives

A 34-year-old man from Uttar Pradesh narrowly escaped death after doctors at Lucknow's King George's Medical University (KGMU) successfully removed a 13 cm knife blade lodged close to a major blood vessel near his right lung in a highly complex, life-saving surgery. The victim, identified as Sarvesh, was allegedly attacked with a sharp weapon in Lakhimpur Kheri on the night of July 4, leaving a large knife blade deeply embedded in the right side of his chest. After receiving preliminary treatment at a local hospital, he was rushed to KGMU's Trauma Centre in Lucknow, where he arrived in critical condition on the morning of July 5.

Doctors said Sarvesh was suffering from severe internal bleeding and dangerously low blood pressure when he was admitted to the emergency department. A CT scan revealed that the nearly 13 cm blade had penetrated up to the pulmonary hilum of the right lung — the crucial region through which major blood vessels and airways pass. The blade had also damaged a branch of the pulmonary artery and stopped just a few millimetres short of the superior vena cava, one of the body's largest and most vital veins.

Medical experts described the injury as extraordinarily high-risk, warning that removing the knife without proper surgical preparation could have triggered catastrophic internal bleeding.

Rather than attempting an immediate extraction, the surgical team deliberately left the blade in place until they could safely secure the surrounding blood vessels inside the operating theatre. Doctors explained that in such cases, an embedded object can sometimes act as a temporary seal, helping limit blood loss until surgery.

The intricate operation was led by Dr Vaibhav Jaiswal, Additional Professor in the Department of Trauma Surgery, under the guidance of Professor Sameer Mishra. A multidisciplinary team comprising trauma surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, anaesthetists, intensive care specialists and nursing staff worked together to perform the challenging procedure.

During the surgery, doctors opened Sarvesh's right chest and removed nearly 500 millilitres of accumulated blood and clots. After successfully controlling the bleeding, they carefully extracted the knife blade, repaired the injured branch of the pulmonary artery and managed to preserve the patient's lung.

Sarvesh is currently recovering in the intensive care unit and is reportedly responding well to treatment.

Following the successful surgery, doctors issued a crucial public safety warning, urging people never to remove a knife, metal rod or any sharp object lodged inside the body outside a hospital. They cautioned that doing so can dramatically worsen internal bleeding and significantly increase the risk of death.