On the afternoon of May 12, news from Can Tho Central General Hospital said that doctors from many specialties coordinated emergency surgery to successfully resuscitate a rare case. That is a patient with a metal nail piercing through the abdominal wall when using a handheld nail gun at home.
The patient is male N.V.T. (born in 1995, residing in Can Tho City) admitted to the hospital on May 4, 2026 with a 2mm abdominal wound, no bleeding in the underside of the left navel, mild pain.
According to the story, while using a handheld nail gun, a nail pierced through the steel bar and went into the abdomen.
Through examination and computed tomography with contrast, doctors recorded a contrasting foreign object located in the soft tissue of the left lumbar muscle, next to the L5 vertebra, with dimensions of about 4x4x39mm.
Faced with the complexity of the injury, doctors conducted a multi-specialized consultation. After consultation, the patient was indicated for emergency surgery.
According to the procedure, the first team (Orthopedic Trauma Center) quickly identified and successfully operated to remove the foreign object, which was a metal nail about 4cm long located in the left pelvic cord muscle. The time to open the abdominal wall and remove the foreign object took only about 20 minutes.
Immediately after that, the team of the General Surgery Department performed abdominal exploration surgery to assess related lesions. The results recorded a segment of the collateral septum descending about 5cm long with red inflammation. Other organs such as the stomach, small intestine and colon were not found to have lesions.
The foreign object was determined to have passed through the small intestine and collateral septum before stopping at the pelvic cord muscle. The patient was pumped to wash the abdominal cavity and placed with drainage for monitoring.
Currently, the patient's condition is stable, the surgical wound is dry, and he is indicated for discharge.
Doctors informed that the nail has gone through the abdominal cavity but "sneaked" through the intestines, only causing damage to the intestinal hanging membrane and then stopping at the pelvic cord muscle, which is very rare. In most cases, this will cause many punctures on the path through the abdominal cavity.
Handheld nail guns are mechanical devices with strong firing power, people should not be subjective when using them at home, especially when not fully equipped with necessary protective equipment.
