Visakhapatnam : KGH doctors remove arrow piercing woman’s brain

VISAKHAPATNAM: Neurosurgeons at King George Hospital (KGH) skillfully removed an arrow lodged in the brain, through the right eye, of a 40-year-old tribal woman from Lankapakala village of GK Veedhi mandal. The woman, B Subhadhra, was attacked by her drunken husband Panduraju with an arrow while she was returning to the village from a bridge construction site at around 1 pm on August 11, 2015.

She was immediately taken to GK Veedhi health centre, from there she was referred to the Chintapalli Government Hospital and then to Narsipatnam Government Hospital. From there she was referred to Regional Eye Hospital in Vizag and finally to the neurosurgery department of KGH.

“The arrow went through the right eye into the brain. The patient tried to remove the arrow from her skull (head), during which the outer wooden handle got detached from the arrow and the arrow remained in the brain. She came on August 12, 2015, at around 4 pm to KGH. On evaluation, the arrow head was found to have penetrated the right lower eyelid and passing between her eyeball and the lower surface of the orbit, pierced the posterior orbital wall and entered the brain (right temporal lobe),” said KGH medical superintendent Dr M Madhusudana Babu.

“Emergency X-ray and CT scan of the brain was done to know the exact position of the arrow and she was operated on an emergency basis within two hours, during which the skull was opened and the arrow removed successfully from the brain. The patient is recovering though her eyesight is almost lost. Since she has some perception of light and the eyeball has been preserved, there’s hope that in future her eyesight can be restored,” added Dr Babu.

The neurosurgery team under the leadership of Dr K Satyavara Prasad comprised Dr P Prahaladu, Dr P Krishna Rajiv, Dr KSR Krishna and the anaesthesia team comprised Dr Murali Krishna, Dr Ganesh and Dr Phani. The ophthalmology team consisted of Dr Narasingarao, Dr Tarakeswararao, Dr Nirmalajoythi and Dr Jyosthna.

Doctors advised that in case of a penetrating injury either due to knife, sickle, axe, scissors or arrow, the patient or family members shouldn’t pull out the penetrating object, because bleeding will occur and the patient will die. They should rush to the hospital so that the surgical team can remove it without injuring the vital organs and securing homeostasis.