Max Hospital Removes Bullet From Man’s Chest After 16 Years

Doctors at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, successfully removed a bullet that had been lodged in the left lung of 45-year-old Shailender Singh for 16 years. 

In a press statement on Wednesday, the healthcare provider informed that Singh, a resident of Kanpur, had been living with the bullet since a 2008 shooting incident, as previous medical advice deemed surgery too risky due to its proximity to his heart and vital organs.

Singh, who had been symptom-free for years, began experiencing severe chest pain and coughing up blood in the last year. After multiple consultations, he approached Max Hospital, where a CT scan revealed the bullet lodged near the left lung hilum. A team led by Dr. Shaiwal Khandelwal, Associate Director of Thoracic Surgery at Max Hospital, performed emergency surgery to remove the bullet and the damaged part of Singh’s lung.

Dr. Khandelwal explained the rarity of such cases stating,  "It’s extremely rare for a long-standing impacted bullet to cause life-threatening bleeding. In this case, the bullet migrated and caused significant damage, necessitating emergency surgery." Following the procedure, Singh has been discharged and is recovering well.