He carried eight-inch-long leather belt in his chest for 4 years

New Delhi (IANS)- In a rare surgery performed in Apollo hospital here, an eight-inch-long leather belt was removed from the chest of a young man after it had lain there undetected for four years, a doctor said Friday.

Twenty-two year old Anuj Ranjan from Lucknow, who met with a road accident in 2006 and was injured in his abdomen, took some treatment and was discharged by a local hospital back then.

"After six months, Anuj developed chest pain and fever. He was put on anti-tubercular treatment which continued for at least two years. But he gained no relief from the recurrent chest pain and fever. Further, he developed a swelling on his left chest which bulged, burst and released a lot of pus and air," Anuj's father said.

When K.K. Pandey, senior consultant for thoracic and vascular surgery at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital operated upon Ranjan on July 20, he was shocked to find an eight-inch- long piece of leather belt and a small piece of cotton cloth inside Anuj's chest.

"The leather belt broke and entered his stomach along with the cotton cloth when he met with the accident. It then travelled to his chest area. He was in a critical stage as infection of the left lung was spreading to the right side of his chest. As the foreign body has now been removed, Ranjan is now recovering," Pandey said.