Toddler in China recovering after chopstick pierces brain

BEIJING — A 14-month-old boy in China is recovering after doctors removed a chopstick from his brain that accidentally poked up through his nose, a hospital spokesman said Thursday.

The toddler, Li Jingchao, from the eastern province of Shandong, is being treated at Bo Ai Hospital in Beijing for an infection caused by the life-threatening impalement, spokesman Chen Yawei said.

Li was playing with chopsticks while his mother was washing dishes when he fell and a chopstick went up his nose, Chen said.

Because local hospitals did not have the technology to safely remove the chopstick, Li's parents traveled 10 hours north by car to Beijing on Dec. 26, Chen said.

Neurosurgeons were concerned that removing the chopstick, which was lodged 4 millimeters into Li's brain, would cause internal hemorrhaging once removed, possibly causing paralysis or death, Chen said.

"Luckily, the removal resulted in little bleeding and he suffered only an infection," Chen said.

Chen said Li's neurosurgeon was perfect for the job because he had extensive experience with surgeries involving chopsticks lodged in eyes, foreheads and necks.