Sir Ganga Ram Hospital doctors extract needle stuck in woman's hip for 3 years

New Delhi: One afternoon, 3 years back, Mrs Rambha Devi, deeply engrossed in her sewing, placed her needle on the bed for a moment. Distracted, she stood up to attend to something else, and then she suddenly slipped and fell back onto the bed. 

She felt a sharp pain and realized something was definitely wrong. Half of the needle was broken and was on the bed. She thought that the other half must’ve been broken off somewhere in the room.

For days, she searched for the missing piece of the needle, convinced it had fallen out. Unable to find it, she eventually gave up and went on with her life, though she constantly felt a discomfort in her buttock, which kept increasing over the years.

Determined to have it removed, she visited several doctors. The doctors kept saying that the needle is too deep in the muscle, there are multiple important nerves in that region and surgery near the muscle will cause a lot of bleeding, hence they denied to perform surgery on her. No one was willing to take the risk. Finally, her long tiring journey led her to Dr Tarun Mittal, Senior Consultant in Dept of General Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital who after thorough evaluation offered her the surgery.

Patient underwent imaging with X-ray and CT scan pre-operatively and carefully planned the procedure. For the surgery, they specially got a C - Arm machine - an advanced medical imaging device based on X-ray technology. After taking the incision and starting dissection, it was very difficult to locate the needle. Multiple X rays had to taken intraoperatively to precisely locate the needle and finally the team found the needle and extracted it in one piece, without breaking it. It was a highly complex task, but their expertise and teamwork paid off.  

After years of discomfort and uncertainty, the woman finally found herself in relief. The needle was out, and her ordeal was over, thanks to the skill and perseverance of her surgeons - Dr Tarun Mittal, Dr Ashish Dey, Dr Anmol Ahuja, Dr Tanushree, and Dr Karthik.

This extraordinary story gives the lesson to always seek timely medical attention for unusual injuries and never ignore persistent discomfort. It also stands as a testament to medical dedication and the unexpected turns life can take.