Doctors remove 152 objects from woman’s stomach

August 07, 2014 03:22 am | Updated 03:22 am IST - CHENNAI:

Most people may be in agony after swallowing a nail, but a 35-year-old woman, who came to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital recently, seems to be an exception. Doctors removed 152 metal objects from her stomach where they had coalesced into a tumour-like mound.

“The patient came to us in December last year complaining of breathlessness, abdominal distension and pain in her arms and legs. When we did an X-ray, we found a number of metallic foreign bodies inside the abdomen. Since many of these were sharp, we couldn’t remove them through an endoscopy,” said S. M. Chandramohan, head of the surgical gastroenterology department at the hospital at a press meet on Wednesday.

The woman, who had been on medication for a mental illness, was also malnourished, doctors found. In February, after improving her health, a surgery was performed. What emerged were small nails, large nails, broken bangles, coins, chains, pins, a key and even a magnet, among other objects, weighing 478 grams.

“A majority of the objects were lodged in the upper intestine, making them difficult to extract,” said Dr. Chandramohan, adding that doctors believed she had swallowed them over the course of a few years. The woman, who lives with her family in Vyasarpadi, has now recovered and is doing well, her brother said.

Finding foreign objects in patients’ stomachs is not very uncommon – gastroenterologists at the hospital have found objects in 64 patients over the last five years. “The commonest object is dentures, swallowed accidentally by senior citizens. Seeds too, are swallowed often by children and can be tricky as they swell if not removed early,” said Dr. Chandramohan.

Dean R. Vimala said awareness was essential to ensure people, who swallowed a foreign body, sought help early.

“A majority of objects pass out spontaneously. Intervention is only required in 10-25 per cent of cases, and endoscopic removal is preferred,” said Dr. Chandramohan.

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