Doctors in Turkey’s eastern Van province were in for a shock when a 24-year-old woman arrived in their emergency room complaining of abdominal pain, leading to a surgery in which 158 metal objects, including fingernail clippers and a needle, were removed from the patient’s stomach.
The woman was taken to Van Training and Research Hospital after suffering from severe stomach cramps – brought on by having swallowed what doctors soon learned was a large metal needle.
However, an X-ray revealed that there was much more than just one foreign object in the patient’s stomach.
A 2 1/2-hour emergency surgery uncovered 158 objects, including nail clippers, a pocket knife, a fruit knife, tweezers, nails, needles, screws and keys, all of which were carefully removed from the patient’s stomach and later cataloged.
During the examination and subsequent questioning, doctors discovered the young woman had a history of psychological issues that compel her to ingest foreign objects.
The general surgeon who performed the surgery, Dr. Yusuf Tekeş, said: “Honestly, I didn’t believe it either at first. We first thought we could remove the objects with endoscopy, but we opted for surgery because the needle itself was too large. We encountered a shocking scene during the surgery. There were 158 foreign objects of various sizes. We removed them all. Our patient is in good condition.”
The woman was later released from the hospital and ordered to return for follow-up treatment.