A man who was left with an iron rod penetrating through his head after a building site accident has received life saving surgery.
Kamel Abdel Rahman, 46, was visiting the family apartment he had been doing construction on near Jerusalem in April when he stepped off the second floor and fell onto a protruding iron rod.
The rod punctured a hole through Mr Rahman’s head, from near his right ear to just above his left eye socket, but despite the life threatening injury he claims he felt no pain.
Mr Rahman told Jerusalem Post: ‘I couldn’t move, so I called for help – I was shouting. I was conscious and I did not feel any pain at all. I do not know how to explain it.’
Kamel Abdel Rahman, 46, fell off the second floor of a building onto an iron rod which penetrated his head from his right ear to the top of his left eye socket. His accompanying family members rushed to his aid ‘screaming’ and called for emergency services, Magen David Adom, who took Mr Rahman to Hadassah Medical Center in East Jerusalem.
Surgeons found that the rod had avoided two major arteries providing blood to the brain, but feared its removal could cause further damage – they could not be certain what damage the rod was obscuring in the imaging.
Dr. Samuel Moscovici, a senior neurologist at the hospital who was faced with the injury in the trauma unit, told the publication: ‘After we ensured the patient was breathing, we conducted various imaging tests to find out where the rod was positioned, what it had hit and whether it could be removed.’
Surgeons then analysed the positioning of the rod, consulting doctors from nose and throat disciplines before removing the rod ‘very carefully’ over ‘many hours’.
Kamel Abdel Rahman after recovery from his operations performed by Dr. Samuel Moscovici (right) at Hadassah Medical Center in East Jerusalem.
Despite the catherization of Mr Rahman’s brain to stop bleeding, after swelling had gone down doctors found that a second ten-hour surgery was needed – performed through the nose with a camera – to prevent further trauma.
Surgeons repaired a leakage of cerebrospinal fluid from Mr Rahman’s brain and closed up his skull with fat taken from his abdomen.
Dr Moscovici who said Mr Rahman was a case all surgeons ‘dream’ of operating on added: ‘After surgery we were optimistic, but we did not know the level of injury or how the patient would wake up.’
Thankfully Rahman awoke from the surgery with full use of his body and the ability to talk as normal – he was discharged from the hospital last week.
