Doctors at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) recently removed a knife from the chest of a 40-year-old woman from Krishnagiri, 30 hours after she was stabbed by a person.

The woman was lucky enough to survive as the only the tip of the more than six-inch-long knife pierced a small portion of one of the lungs, and her heart was not injured in the stabbing.

According to CMCH authorities, the woman was stabbed by a person known to her at Hosur in Krishnagiri on May 25.

The woman remained in her house with the knife in her chest the entire night and she was admitted to Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College in Salem the next morning. Doctors at the hospital referred the woman to CMCH, and she was brought to the hospital around 2 p.m.

A medical team led by E. Sreenivasan, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Jaishankar Narayanan, Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology, removed the knife in a three-hour surgery.

“The woman was conscious when she was brought to the hospital. As the knife was left untouched, the injury did not lead to internal bleeding,” said Dr. Sreenivasan.

CMCH Dean P. Kalidas, who lauded the entire team, said that the woman was discharged from the hospital three days ago after she recovered completely.