Donetsk, Apr 6 — DAN. Doctors in the town of Yasinovataya, Donetsk People’s Republic, have performed complex surgery to remove shrapnel pieces from a patient’s beating heart, liver and diaphragm, the DPR Healthcare Ministry reported on Thursday.
“The wounded man was admitted to Yasinovataya Central District Hospital in a critical condition; every minute counted, ” the Ministry said adding that doctors had been fighting for his life for more than three hours. The shrapnel pieces were extracted, the heart and liver wounds were sutured, and heart sac and abdominal fluids were removed.
The patient’ s condition is stable now. Yasinovataya Hospital surgeon Alexander Yermak said in a First Channel video that the doctors had not expected such a rare case as a heart wound and that they were shocked to see that the admitted patient was still alive.
The man will be flown by helicopter for rehabilitation therapy at a hospital that specializes in treating mine blast traumas.
There have been many similar cases in Donbass over the years of the conflict. In February, Republican Trauma Center doctors performed their first ever surgery to remove a shell fragment from a child’s backbone, while in January, they removed a pelvic bones tumor from an adolescent.*jk