The rescue team shows the steel bar removed from the man's body after emergency treatment.
JINAN, June 17 (Xinhua) -- A man has miraculously escaped death after a 1.5-meter-long steel bar pierced through his body two days ago in east China's Shandong Province.
The emergency treatment lasted seven hours and he woke up on Thursday, according to doctors at the Qilu Hospital of Shandong University in Jinan, the provincial capital.
The 46-year-old construction worker, surnamed Zhang, fell off a five-meter high place in an under-construction building in Jinan around 3:00 pm on Tuesday and landed right on top of a steel bar. The bar, 15 millimeters in diameter, went through his privates and came out through his head.
The steel bar goes through his privates and comes out through his head.
After firefighters cut the bar, the man was sent to the hospital conscious but in critical condition. Examination showed the steel bar was near many critical parts, including his skull, trachea, heart, carotid artery and liver.
"The case is very rare, and the rescue process was indescribable," said Sang Xiguang, head of emergency surgery department, who was in charge of the rescue mission.
Doctors operate on the man.
Doctors from nine departments worked together with firefighters to try saving the man's life. The surgeons opened the man's skull, chest and abdomen at the same time, and removed the bar slowly.
It took more than seven hours to finish the removal. At 1:00 am on Wednesday, the man was wheeled out of the operating room and transferred to intensive care unit.
"Luckily the bar barely touched his critical organs," said Zhang Yuan, attending doctor of neurosurgery department, "But the wound was so large that he might not have made it if he was in poor health."
"It was emergent and we had to decide what to do first," he said, "One wrong move, and we would fail."
"We were all soaked in sweat when we walked out of the operating room," Sang said, "We have stood for more than seven hours. We were all exhausted."
Doctors operate on the man.
The man is in stable condition, doctors said, but whether the miracle would last depends on the coming two weeks as postoperative infection may pose a big threat.
The crisis may last for half a month as it takes three to five days for symptoms of abdominal infection and two weeks for intracranial infection to appear.
"We would try our best to help him recover," said Sang.
(All photos are from the hospital.)
