Hanoi- Doctors in Vietnam successfully removed a bullet lodged in a former communist soldier's heart - 39 years after he was shot by US troops in the Vietnam War, a hospital official said Monday. Le Dinh Hung, 60, was recovering on Monday after doctors removed the bullet from the back wall of his heart and replaced a cardiac valve damaged by it with an artifical one.
"The surgery lasted three hours and we succeeded in removing the bullet, which is about 2.5 centimeters long," said Dr Nguyen Sinh Hien, who presided over the operation on Friday.
Hung was shot in battle with US troops in 1968 in the central province of Quang Tri, site of some of the war's fiercest fighting because it was near the "DMZ" line dividing communist-run North Vietnam and US-backed South Vietnam.
The bullet entered through his stomach, passed through the cardiac valve and lodged in the back wall of his heart.
"It was an amazing thing that he survived the shot and has been living with a damaged cardiac valve," said Hien. "Normally, one will not be able to survive this kind of injury."
Doctors in 1969 tried to remove the bullet, but failed. Hung had lived with near-constant chest pains because of the injury, but may now be able to live out his days in relative peace, doctors said.
"He is recovering well after the surgery and will be released from hospital in a couple of days," Hien said.
The Vietnam War, which ended with a communist victory in 1975 that unified the country, killed 3 million Vietnamese on both sides and at least 58,000 American troops.
