A youth, who had an appetite for a knife, 18 long and short iron nails, compression spring, wrench tool for tightening bolts and nuts, has been successfully operated in the PGI. The case perplexed the medical team, as the ingestion of such a substantial number of foreign objects without any internal or external injury is an exceptionally rare occurrence.

This is one of the rarest of rare cases where 50 such metallic items or foreign objects swallowed by a man have been removed endoscopically after a challenging 4-hour surgery.
“The patient had come to us from the psychiatry ward in the institute when he complained of stomach pain. The X-ray revealed the ingestion of foreign objects. We have never encountered so many objects inside a patient,” said Dr Jayanta Samanta, department of gastroenterology, PGI. He said, “The patient is doing well now. There was no injury or corrosion due to the items ingested and we had to be careful during the endoscopy while removing the objects. Perhaps he had been swallowing these objects for over a few months.”

An open stomach surgery was avoided in this case and all the items were meticulously removed using endoscopic techniques from the stomach, ensuring no injury to the stomach or food pipe (oesophagus) during the process. Dr Jayanta explained the intake of such sharp items with ease. “Often these people who are habituated to ingesting such objects develop a knack to ingest these items. They do get some injuries in the mouth, but often not significant enough to draw attention.”

Some of those who suffer from schizophrenia can have auditory hallucinations whereby a command is imagined and has to be followed. “The patient has schizophrenia and was referred from IGMC Shimla. He is under treatment. However, there is a risk of ingesting such objects again in case the treatment is interrupted,” said Prof Sandeep Grover, department of psychiatry, PGI.

Common foreign objects

In the elderly, the common foreign objects ingestion are small dentures or denture clips and blister packs of medicines. In children, button batteries are the most common and most dangerous as the batteries release acid inside the stomach and can injure the stomach/food pipe. Doctors advise monitoring the children and sensitising the elderly. “If there is an ingestion of any foreign object, do not ignore it and believe it will pass off. It is advisable to visit the nearest hospital,” said Dr Jayanta.