A 20cm long tree branch has been stuck in a 95-year-old woman's chest for more than 2 years.

The foreign object was an ash branch more than 20cm long, which had been in the chest of Mrs. Tran Thi H. (95 years old, residing in Thanh Binh Thinh commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province) for more than 2 years but she did not know.

Doctors from the General Surgery Department and the Traumatology Department performed surgery on patient H.

Doctors at Ha Tinh General Hospital have just performed emergency surgery to save the life of an elderly woman TTH (95 years old, residing in Thanh Binh Thinh commune, Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province) who was stabbed in the chest by an ash branch over 20cm long due to a fall. It is worth mentioning that this ash branch had been in her chest for more than 2 years without her knowing, although her family had taken her to several medical facilities for examination and treatment.

According to Ms. NTT (patient H.'s relative), before that, around the beginning of March 2023, while going out to the garden, Ms. H. accidentally fell on the base of an ash tree and suffered bleeding in the right posterior chest area. After that, her family took her to many places for examination and treatment but no foreign object was detected and only the wound on the right posterior chest was treated. After nearly 2 months of treatment, the wound dried up and she was able to walk on her own, although she still had a crooked and dull pain in the chest area.

The foreign object was an ash branch longer than 20cm removed.

By early April 2025, Ms. H.'s old wound was swollen, painful and oozing fluid, so her family took her to Ha Tinh General Hospital. Here, after examination and chest CT scan, doctors discovered an abscess in the right lung with a foreign object from the right posterior chest next to the spine, penetrating the right lung to the top of the lung.

After consultation, patient H. was transferred to the operating room. Here, doctors from the General Surgery Department and the Trauma Department performed surgery and discovered that the 8th rib was broken due to a foreign object that caused osteomyelitis and a right lung abscess. The doctors removed the foreign object, cleaned it, and drained the abscess. The foreign object was a dry ash branch longer than 20cm.

Patient H.'s health is stable and he will be discharged in the next few days.

After surgery and monitoring and treatment, the patient's health is currently stable, he can sit up and eat by himself. It is expected that the patient will be discharged in the next few days.

Doctor Tran Duc Dung, Head of the General Surgery Department (Ha Tinh General Hospital), who directly performed the surgery on the patient, said that this was a rare case. With a rare age like patient H., his endurance for more than 2 years is truly admirable.

DUONG QUANG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/canh-cay-dai-hon-20cm-nam-trong-long-nuc-cu-ba-95-tuoi-suot-hon-2-nam-post795478.html