An IDF reserve officer who was critically wounded in combat in southern Lebanon underwent a rare life-saving operation after doctors discovered a piece of shrapnel lodged just millimeters from his aorta.
Maj. Malachi Moundani, 26, a reserve unit commander from the community of Neve in the Eshkol region, was seriously injured during an encounter with terrorists last Thursday. He was evacuated to Rambam Medical Center with multiple penetrating wounds in life-threatening condition.
After stabilizing him, doctors found that a fragment had come to rest dangerously close to the aorta, the body's main artery. Medical teams faced a difficult choice: operating carried significant risks due to his extensive injuries, but leaving the fragment in place could have proven fatal if it shifted and tore the artery.
Following consultations between trauma, vascular, and cardiac surgery specialists, doctors decided to proceed with surgery. Dr. Tzvi Adler and Dr. Kamel Morshad successfully removed the fragment without complications.
"The fragment was sitting right next to the aorta, in contact with it," said Prof. Gil Bolotin, head of Rambam's cardiac surgery department. "Any movement could have punctured the aorta and led to a catastrophic outcome."
Bolotin noted that the case was exceptionally rare and scarcely documented in medical literature, prompting extensive deliberations over whether surgery was the safest option. "We chose to operate," he said. "The procedure went smoothly, and fortunately the patient stabilized afterward and was transferred for continued treatment at the medical center."
