Lviv doctors save life of Ukrainian defender with shrapnel in his heart
Doctors in Lviv have removed a one-and-a-half-centimetre fragment of Russian munition from a defender’s heart.
Source: Unbroken National Rehabilitation Centre
Details: 42-year-old Roman Kliza from Volyn Oblast became a patient of cardiac surgeons at St Panteleimon's Hospital and the Amosov Institute.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Roman worked as a driver abroad. After the outbreak of the full-scale war, he joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was an aerial reconnaissance man.
Roman was seriously wounded in December 2023.
"We got to our positions and were just approaching the dugout when a drone flew towards us. I don't remember anything else," Roman recollects.
That day, one of his brothers-in-arms was killed, and Roman was taken to hospital. He was in a coma for nine days. He woke up in a hospital in the city of Dnipro.
"Local doctors did everything possible to save the man's life. As a result of a severe mine-blast injury, he had damaged a part of his right brain.
But more critical was the fact that one of the fragments was lodged in the man's chest, just a millimetre from his trachea," the medics said.
After Roman's condition was stabilised, he was transported to Lviv, where doctors conducted an examination and drew up a plan for surgery.
Roman is currently undergoing rehabilitation because of the brain damage that left his left arm paralysed and his walking and coordination impaired.
The sessions with a physical therapist have yielded results, and Roman was able to take his first steps within a week.
"What motivates me the most is seeing the results. Every day I take a few more steps, which gives me hope," Roman says.
In the near future, Roman will undergo neurosurgery to restore his skull defect. Individual 3D titanium plates are being made for him at the moment.
Background:
- Lviv paediatric neurosurgeons performed complex brain surgery on a 4-year-old patient from Northern Ireland who was suffering from severe seizures.
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