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Carpenter misfires nail gun, 9-cm nail found mid-brain

Updated on: 11 August,2016 08:20 AM IST  | 
Chaitraly Deshmukh |

The 24-year-old carpenter was admitted to a hospital in Akurdi, Pune, on Monday with complaints of constant headaches and dizziness. A skull X-ray blew his and doctors’ minds

Carpenter misfires nail gun, 9-cm nail found mid-brain

Pune: Nitin Vishwakarma is still trying to wrap his head around his close shave with death. The 24-year-old carpenter was admitted to a hospital in Akurdi, Pune, on Monday with complaints of constant headaches and dizziness. A skull X-ray blew his and doctors’ minds: It showed a 9-cm nail stuck mid-brain.


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Nitin Vishwakarma was working with a nail gun when he misfired it
Nitin Vishwakarma was working with a nail gun when he misfired it


Vishwakarma immediately underwent a surgery and the nail was removed.

'Accidental' misfiring
How Vishwakarma got the nail lodged in his head is as incredible as his lucky escape. He, along with three other carpenters, had bagged a big work consignment of three flats in Talegaon on August 1. “We were told to finish the work before Raksha Bandhan. So, we got down to it immediately,” recalled Vishwakarma.


On August 5, while placing furniture in a room, he absentmindedly scratched his head with a nail gun and misfired it. “I experienced excruciating pain,” he said. His next step should have been a no-brainer: see a doctor immediately.
But he brushed the pain off. “I didn’t realise that the nail had pierced my head. I continued with my work. Later, I started getting headaches, which I attributed to the immense work pressure. I popped three painkillers, took a nap and resumed work,” he said.

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An X-ray revealed a 9-cm nail lodged inside his brain
An X-ray revealed a 9-cm nail lodged inside his brain

Even the sight of blood trickling down his head didn’t set off the alarm bells. “My scalp bled a bit, but I assumed I had injured it some other time,” said Vishwakarma.

Second opinion
The next day, the pain was back, much worse than before. “That’s when I thought of consulting a doctor in Talegaon. He gave me some medicines to ease the pain, but a friend recommended I go in for a second opinion at Star Hospital in Akurdi,” said the carpenter. He went in for a consultation at Star Hospital on August 8.

Dr Pramod Kubade, director of Star Hospital, said a CT scan of his head revealed nothing. “We then asked for an X-ray, and found a 9-cm nail struck mid-brain. We had no idea whether the nail was rusted. An immediate surgery was the only solution.”

Dr Vivek Bonde, neurologist, who along with Dr Kubade performed the surgery, said a team of four doctors pulled out the nail in almost an hour and a half. The surgery was fraught with risks since the nail was bang in the centre of the brain. “We had to be extremely careful to avoid damage to the brain. We were successful in removing the nail.”

Vishwakarma is now recuperating and is being kept under observation.

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