Rusty knife removed from man's head after four years

CHINESE surgeons have removed a rusty, four-inch knife from theskull of a man who claimed it had been stuck in there for fouryears.

Li Fuyan, 30, had been suffering severe headaches, bad breath andbreathing difficulties but never knew the cause of his discomfort.

An official at Yuxi City People's Hospital in Yunnan Province,south-western China, said Li told doctors he had been stabbed in thelower right jaw by a robber four years ago, and that the blade hadbroken off inside his head without him ever realising it.

Surgeons worked cautiously to remove the badly corroded bladewithout shattering it, said the official.

The hospital's website also reported the successful surgery.

The case, described by one doctor as a "miracle," has been widelycovered by the Chinese media and discussed on the internet.

"We checked his mouth, but no wound or scar has been found. It isvery strange as to how the blade got into his head," Xu Wen, deputydirector of the hospital's stomatology department, told statebroadcaster CCTV.

CCTV showed footage of the rusted knife and interviewed Li, whosaid: "As time passed, I used injections to kill the pain in my headand ears. It has been four years already."