Italian surgeons remove bicycle brake lever lodged in boy’s back for three years

Surgeons at Italy’s Bambino Gesù children’s hospital have removed a 5.5-centimetre bicycle brake lever from a 13-year-old boy’s back. The metal part entered his body during a bicycle fall three years earlier, the hospital reported on October 14.

The boy had continued playing sports after the fall and experienced no significant symptoms for an extended period. He later developed pain in his right leg, followed by discomfort in both legs. An X-ray revealed a metal object in his lower back.

A CT scan showed that the lever had entered through his left flank and reached an area beside a nerve root. Fibrous tissue had formed around the object over the intervening three years, complicating its removal.

The operation lasted about three hours. Surgeons gradually freed the nerve root from the surrounding tissue and metal object before extracting the lever intact. Neurophysiological monitoring was used throughout the procedure to check nerve function.

The boy got out of bed the following morning and was discharged a few days later. The hospital said follow-up examination found no neurological or other complications and that he had recovered fully.