During a bar fight, unknown assailants stabbed the man’s face with an object. It was later found that these were chopsticks that remained embedded in his skull for five months. (Image: Canva AI/Representative)
The man later recalled that he was in a bar fight months ago when he was out drinking one night.
A Vietnamese man who experienced severe headaches for five months was astonished when doctors told him that they found a pair of chopsticks stuck inside his skull. The man went to Cuba Friendship Hospital in Dong Hoi on November 25 after suffering from severe pain as well as fluid discharge and fluid loss.
Doctors conducted several computerised tomography scans (CT) scans and found that the man was suffering from tension pneumocephalus. This is a rare but potentially life-threatening neurological condition which is caused by a dangerous spike in intracranial pressure.
Intracranial pressure is like the gentle push or squeeze the fluid inside the skull puts on the brain. If there’s too much pressure, it can cause problems.
They conducted more examinations which revealed that the man’s pain was caused by a pair of chopsticks that penetrated up his nostrils and reached his brain. Dr. Nguyen Van Man, head of the Department of Neurosurgery of the Dong Hoi-based hospital said he encountered a “very rare” case.
The man himself was surprised to find out that he ended up eating utensils or rather inhaling utensils but later he recalled he was involved in a bar fight five months ago while out drinking, in Vietnam.
The man did not remember many details from the bar fight but that someone stabbed him in the face with an object he could not identify. At that time, when he reached a hospital following the fight the doctors did not find any chopsticks or any abnormalities with his nose.
The patient believes that he was stabbed up his nostrils with the food forceps and it was left undiscovered for five months, leading to severe headaches. The doctors removed the chopsticks via endoscopic surgery through the nose and the used microsurgery to seal the fistula – the connection between artery and vein in brain and spinal cord tissue.
The man is in a stable condition and awaits discharge from the hospital.
(with inputs from New York Post, The Metro and VN)
