Doctors were left in shock when they discovered a six-centimetre knife blade embedded in a patient’s shoulder when he turned up complaining about pain.

The 40-year-old patient, who has not been named, came to the hospital in the town of Mozhaisk, in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, complaining of discomfort and pain in his shoulder.

After doctors made an x-ray, they were astonished when they saw the patient had a six-centimetre (2.3-inch) knife blade fragment deep in the humerus, where it was stuck tight.

The man told doctors that he could not remember when or how he was injured.

Roman Khramtsov, an orthopaedic traumatologist at the trauma department of the Mozhaisk Hospital, said in a statement obtained by Newsflash from the Ministry of Health of Moscow Oblast on 26th October: “According to the results of the X-ray examination, it was determined that the steel had entered deeply into the humerus.

“Using special pliers, we removed a fragment of the knife and stitched up the wound. The patient, of course, was as astonished as we were and said he had no idea how the knife could have ended up there.

“But in the end, he kept the fragment as a souvenir.”

The ministry added: “The patient received anti-inflammatory therapy.

“He is currently feeling well and has already been discharged.”