A man had chopsticks shoved up his nose and lodged into his brain for five months… but he had no idea. After suffering with severe headaches, fluid discharge and even loss of vision, the unnamed man from Vietnam was rushed to the emergency room at hospital.

The 35-year-old was asked by doctors if he had any indication of what might be causing his symptoms – but he was at a loss. Staff at the Cuba Friendship Hospital in the city of Dong Hoi, Quang Binh province, carried out a CT scan to get to the bottom of the problem.

They didn’t only discover that he was suffering with tension pneumocephalus – an unusual but life-threatening neurosurgical emergency, normally caused by head trauma. But medical experts also came across broken chopsticks which were penetrating into his skull from the nose when he was examined on November 24.

His family believe the chopsticks must have made their way up his nose when he was involved in a fight around five months ago. He was injured and taken to hospital at the time but the chopsticks were not found and no abnormalities with his nose were reported.

The patient was bemused when doctors came across them, saying he didn’t remember exactly what happened in the fight, although he said he thought something had been stabbed into his face. Now, he believes the other man must have stuck the chopsticks into his nose as they scrapped.

After a consultation, doctors performed an endoscopic surgery through the nose to remove them. He remains in hospital in a stable condition while undergoing recovery treatment. Dr Nguyen Van Man, head of the department of neurosurgery, said it was a ‘very rare’ case.