Dramatic rescue

16-year-old Styrian shot a nail into his stomach

After the dramatic rescue: Hanna Kleinschuster, Eva Amerstorfer, patient Tobias and Holger Till (from left)

(Bild: LKH-Uni. Klinikum Graz/Jürgen Fechter)

A young man from southern Styria had a thousand guardian angels in an accident at work a few days ago. He shot a nail into his stomach with a nail gun, which pierced his liver. After a special operation, he was able to leave the University Hospital for Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery in good spirits.

"Just pull it out!" was 16-year-old Tobias' first reaction after he suddenly got a 6.5-centimetre nail stuck in his stomach at work a few days ago. "But of course I was in complete shock and my colleague immediately realized that it wouldn't work," continues the South Styrian. "We then went to the boss's office, the emergency doctor and paramedics were called and I was finally brought here to the hospital by helicopter," says Tobias, describing what happened a good week ago after a nail came loose from a nail gun and severely injured him as he was about to hand it to his colleague.

Iron intruder as a danger
It was not until a CT scan was taken at the University Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Surgery in Graz that it became clear how lucky Tobias was: The nail had pierced the teenager's abdominal wall and liver, and the tip of the iron intruder was only a few millimeters away from the large abdominal vessels.

"Normally, the abdominal wall would be opened and the nail retrieved. Due to the patient's stable general condition, we decided to perform the procedure laparoscopically, i.e. via the smallest openings in the abdominal cavity," explains Holger Till, Head of the Department. After the abdominal cavity was filled with gas, the nail lifted up a little on its own. "It hung freely in the abdominal cavity, so to speak, and we were able to pull it out without any problems," says Till.

Fortunately, no further injuries
"Fortunately," adds his colleague, pediatric surgeon Eva Amerstorfer, "we were able to rule out any further injuries. So the whole procedure only took a good half an hour in total." Afterwards, he was looked after by Hanna Kleinschuster, ward manager of the nursing team, and her team: "We were all very pleased that he recovered so quickly and well and that the whole story turned out so well!"

Tobias is also more than happy and was able to leave the hospital again on Thursday: "Everyone told me that I had a thousand guardian angels, but I also know that the team here did a really great job."