Doctors have safely removed a bullet that had been lodged in a Vietnamese man's lung for nearly three decades, his surgeon said Monday.
Vu Van Thanh, 50, had the 2.5-centimetre bullet stuck in his lung since 1978, when he was shot during battle in neighbouring Cambodia. The bullet went through his chest and became embedded in his lung.
"I have never seen a case like this," said Dr. Nguyen Van Chung of Thanh Hoa hospital, about 160 kilometres south of Hanoi.
"It's amazing that he didn't feel pain until recently."
Thanh, a farmer, had long wanted it removed but could not afford the operation. He did not feel any pain for the last 30 years, said Nguyen Van Thai, head of Thi Tu village, where Thanh lives.
He recently found it hard to breathe and developed a severe fever before going to the hospital. Doctors carried out the three-hour operation for free.
"When the bullet was taken out, it was already rusty," said Chung. "But he is perfectly fine now."
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