Surgeons save man who swallowed 227 metal objects
You will never believe what this man has swallowed.
SURGEONS at Ngwelezana Hospital have successfully removed 227 metal objects from a patient’s stomach.
The mind-boggling content included kitchen forks, chain links, a screwdriver, coins, numerous pieces of wire and various nuts, bolts and screws.
The Zululand man was referred to the district hospital after profusely vomiting blood. Surprisingly, he was able to walk into the hospital to meet with doctors.
X-Rays revealed the large amount of metal that had been ingested, and his stomach had shifted from the upper to the lower abdomen owing to the weight of the metal.
The patient was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.
This unusual manifestation of the psychiatric illness is known as pica: the tendency to ingest unusual items that have no nutritional value, including clay, wood, chalk or in this case, metal.
The surgical team, comprising specialist surgeon Dr Shailen Sham, Dr Sandile Mbonambi, Dr Zafar Khan and anesthetist Dr Leona Ravinath removed the scores of objects, some unidentifiable, by means of a laparotomy.
‘All the bits and pieces were carefully removed through an incision into the stomach wall. The stomach was then sutured.
‘The patient made a rapid recovery from his operation and was referred to our psychiatric unit for further treatment.’ said Dr Sham.
‘These cases are not uncommon; I have seen two other similar cases during my time.
‘However, this is the greatest number of items that I have removed from any of my patients and the first of such a large number at Ngwelezana Hospital,’ Dr Sham said.
‘Mental illness is prevalent in our community and it has serious consequences.
‘It is not easily diagnosed at primary health care levels and therefore patients believed to be ill must be referred to more specialised centres.’
The bizarre case highlights the importance of disseminating accurate information about mental illness in rural areas as medical authorities say such cases are often misconceived as ‘witchcraft’ and ‘muti’ symptoms.
DID YOU KNOW?
Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.
For news straight to your phone invite us:
BBM – 25A0BF5A or 2B7993C8
