Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: A 42-year-old man from Bhutan survived a life-threatening injury after a steel arrow pierced his chest and lodged in his heart. The man, identified as Tashi Dorji for privacy, took the arrow to the chest during a friendly archery match in Paro, Bhutan. It punched through his breastbone and anchored in the right ventricle. He survived. The patient endured a grueling 13-hour road trip from Thimphu to Guwahati with the projectile still inside him.
Doctors in Thimphu confirmed the location of the arrow via CT scan before contacting Dr. Rajnish Duara at GNRC Hospitals in Dispur. Dr. Duara agreed to lead the high-risk operation. The medical team knew that pulling the arrow while the heart beat would kill the patient. They required a controlled environment.
Surgeons placed the patient on a heart-lung machine to bypass his vital organs. They accessed his groin vessels to reroute blood, oxygenate it, and pump it back into his body. Once the heart was decompressed, they cut the breastbone and removed the steel arrow. They patched the right ventricle and restored normal circulation.
Dr. Duara led the team alongside Dr. Aadarsha Rai. "Meticulous planning and a safe approach were necessary for the successful surgery," Dr. Duara said. The recovery was fast. The patient breathed on his own three hours after the procedure and walked by the second day. Personnel from the Embassy of Bhutan helped coordinate the transfer. Despite the trauma, the patient intends to keep shooting archery once he heals.
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