They took shrapnel out of my coronary heart

[ad_1] Anastasiya Gribanova BBC Ukrainian Service, Kyiv

Scarlett Barter BBC World Service

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f71b/live/9f9fa3e0-558b-11f0-a9c4-6559fc28b390.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Kevin McGregor / BBC Ukrainian serviceman Serhiy Melnyk holds above a scrap of paper a small grey piece of shrapnel once lodged in his heart." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Kevin McGregor / BBC Ukrainian serviceman Serhiy Melnyk holds the piece of shrapnel that was as soon as lodged in his coronary heart

From his pocket, Serhiy Melnyk pulls out a small rusty shard, wrapped neatly in paper.

He holds it up. "It grazed my kidney, pierced my lung, and my coronary heart," says the Ukrainian serviceman quietly.

Traces of dried blood are nonetheless seen on the shrapnel from a Russian drone that turned lodged in his coronary heart whereas he was preventing in jap Ukraine.

"I did not even realise what it was at first — I believed I used to be simply wanting breath underneath my physique armour," he says. "They needed to extract shrapnel out of my coronary heart."

With the rise of drone warfare in Ukraine, these accidents have gotten extra frequent. Drones typically carry weapons and supplies which fragment and trigger extra advanced shrapnel wounds.

In accordance with Ukrainian army medics, shrapnel wounds now make as much as 80% of battlefield trauma.

Untreated, Serhiy's damage would have been deadly.

"The fragment was as sharp as a blade. Medical doctors stated it was a big piece, and that I used to be fortunate to outlive," he says reflectively.

But it surely wasn't simply luck that saved him, it was a brand new piece of medical expertise. A magnetic extractor.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/baa4/live/a315f1b0-4860-11f0-84b6-6bf0f66205f1.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Kevin McGregor / BBC Serhiy Maksymenko sits in his consulation room. He wears a white doctors coat. He was part of the team of surgeons who removed the shrapnel from Serhiy’s heart. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Kevin McGregor / BBC Serhiy Maksymenko's staff eliminated the shrapnel from Serhiy's coronary heart

'I make a small incision and insert the magnet'

Cardiovascular surgeon Serhiy Maksymenko reveals footage of the steel fragment trapped in Serhiy's beating coronary heart earlier than it's delicately eliminated by a skinny magnet-tipped system.

"You do not have to make massive cuts within the coronary heart," explains Dr Maksymenko. "I simply make a small incision, insert the magnet, and it pulls the shrapnel out."

In only one 12 months, Physician Maksymenko's staff has carried out over 70 profitable coronary heart operations with the system, which has modified the face of front-line medication in Ukraine.

The event of those extractors got here after front-line medics highlighted the pressing want for a protected, quick, minimally invasive approach to take away shrapnel.

Oleh Bykov - who used to work as a lawyer - drove this growth. Since 2014 he has been supporting the military as a volunteer. He met medics on the entrance line and from his conversations the magnetic extractors have been created.

The idea is not new. Magnets have been used for eradicating steel from wounds way back to the Crimean Conflict within the 1850s. However Oleh's staff modernised the method, creating versatile fashions for stomach surgical procedure, micro-extractors for delicate work, and high-strength instruments for bones.

Operations have turn into extra exact and fewer invasive. The magnet may be run alongside the floor of a wound to attract fragments out. Surgeons then make a small incision and the piece is eliminated.

Holding a slim pen-shaped device, Oleh demonstrates its energy by lifting a sledgehammer with the magnetic tip.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/68cb/live/426dedd0-4866-11f0-83bd-e5b5d0a69992.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Kevin McGregor / BBC The extractors work by using powerful magnets. The inventor of the magnetic extractor Oleh Bykov demonstrates their power by holding up a sledgehammer. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Kevin McGregor / BBC The magnets are highly effective sufficient to raise a sledgehammer

His work has been counseled by different battle medics together with David Nott, a veteran of battle zones world wide.

"In battle, issues get developed which might by no means have been considered in civilian life," he says.

Fragmentation wounds have elevated because of the altering face of battle, and since they take a very long time to search out he believes this system might be a recreation changer.

He says in search of shrapnel in sufferers is like "in search of a needle in a haystack"- it's not all the time profitable and delays remedy of different casualties.

Trying to find fragments manually may be harmful and requires greater incisions that may trigger extra bleeding – "so to have the ability simply to easily discover them utilizing a magnet is ingenious."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6b8d/live/2388ff80-4880-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Dnipro cardiac center The shrapnel that was in Serhiy's heart attached to the magnetic extractor that removed it. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Dnipro cardiac heart The magnetic extractor that eliminated the shrapnel from Serhiy's coronary heart

What started as a subject device has now been rolled out throughout Ukraine, with 3,000 items distributed to hospitals and front-line medics, like Andriy Alban who says he has come to depend on the system.

He typically works whereas underneath fireplace, in trenches or makeshift outside clinics, and generally with out native anaesthetic.

"My job is to save lots of lives - bandage wounds and get troopers evacuated," he says.

There was no official certification of the magnetic extractor.

The Ukrainian Well being Ministry says medical gadgets should comply absolutely with technical laws. Nevertheless, in distinctive instances, akin to martial regulation or a state of emergency, the usage of uncertified gadgets is allowed to fulfill the wants of the army and safety forces.

On the peak of battle, there is not any time for pink tape, mastermind Oleh explains. "These gadgets save lives. If somebody thinks my actions are against the law, I am going to take duty. I am even ready to go to jail if it involves that. However then all of the docs who use these gadgets must be incarcerated too," he provides half jokingly.

David Nott agrees that certification just isn't a prime precedence for now and believes the system might show useful in different battle zones akin to Gaza.