Doctors remove 10-cm nail from patient’s lungs

A 10-centimeter nail was extracted from the lungs of an elderly person in a hospital in eastern Turkey's Elazığ province on Thursday.

The patient Keko Ateş (91) had approached doctors complaining an acute breathing problem.

Murat Kılıç, doctor in the Elazığ State Hospital told Anadolu Agency that they found patient's breathing problem was due to a nail stuck in his lungs.

"We immediately operated the patient, and successfully removed the 10-centimeter [3.9 inches] nail," Kılıç said.

The nail had slipped into his lungs after the patient had used it to clean opening of the trachea in the neck. His larynx was removed 24 years ago, because of laryngeal cancer.

The doctor said that Ateş was breathing through an opening created in the neck, connected to the trachea.

Kılıç stressed though, such a situation was rare, but advised patients, not to use foreign bodies to itch or clean their throats.