A MAN who slipped and fell from scaffolding miraculously escaped death after being impaled by an iron rod.
The 57-year-old man dropped 16.5ft onto the 3ft pole, which pierced his perineum before shooting through his abdomen and chest.
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The unnamed Brazilian man’s gruesome accident and emergency surgery was described in a case report published to the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.
Scans and pictures published show the metal rod entering his perineum – the patch of delicate skin between the genitals and anus – and extending through his body, narrowly missing his heart.
“These injuries often occur in situations of falls from heights, more commonly observed among construction workers,” doctors involved in his care wrote.
As many as 25 per cent of people who suffer perineal impalement don’t survive long enough to be admitted to hospital, they added.
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But miraculously, the 57-year-old beat the odds, not only surviving the accident and painstaking surgery to remove the pole, but being discharged to the general ward with no lasting problems after just three days.
The man was rushed to the Complexo Hospitalar do Trabalhador in Curitiba, Brazil, after falling 16.5ft, where his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels were all recorded as “stable”.
A whole-body computed tomography (CT) scan showed “an extensive metallic object transfixing the perineum towards the abdominal and thoracic cavities”.
The man was promptly taken into an operating room.
Surgeons made a surgical incision into his abdominal cavity to examine the state of his internal organs and decided to perform a sternotomy – where the breastbone is cut through – to reach the rod.
Medics noted that the pole had pierced the man’s liver and diaphragm and reached the same height as the root of his aorta – the largest artery of the body – without violating his heart.
They were able to successfully remove the pole and damaged tissue before stitching him up from neck to groin.
The man was transferred to intensive care, where he received blood transfusions.
Just two days after undergoing major surgery, he was able to walk and eat.
Three days later, he was discharged into the general ward and offered physiotherapy.
During a discharge assessment 12 days after his operation, doctors discovered abnormal scar tissue on part of his urethra and it was decided he’d need surgery for this.
There was no further information on whether the man underwent this operation and whether it was successful.
It’s not the first time gruesome cases such as this one have been reported.
A 19-year-old labourer was working on a building site in Bangkok, Thailand, when he fell into a metal pole that impaled his backside.
Meanwhile, another man was left with a metal rod sticking through his head after falling two stories.
And the historical case of Phineas Gage was gruesomely shot in the head with an iron rod in 1848 and survived for 12 more years has long puzzled scientists.
Researchers last year have recreated details of the injury, showing the impact after his skull was used to complete a full reconstruction of his features.