Photo: Screenshot from Sina Weibo

180 iron nails and other foreign objects, including coins, screws, nuts and magnets have recently been removed by doctors at a hospital in Southwest China’s Yunnan Province from a local man’s stomach after he sought treatment for repeated vomiting and abdominal pain, Yunnan Daily reported on Sunday. 

The man’s family took him to The Third People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province for examination. Imaging scans revealed a large mass of metal objects in the man’s abdomen, which had clumped together, distended his stomach and caused it to drop downward, according to the report. 

The nearly three-hour surgery on Friday removed foreign objects weighing more than 1 kilogram, including a nail nearly 10 centimeters long.

According to Li Wei, chief physician from the hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery department at the hospital, the patient’s stomach was covered with ulcers and erosions, but fortunately the nails did not perforate the stomach or enter the intestines. The magnets may have caused the nails to clump together, with some nails becoming magnetized. The patient is recovering well and remains in stable condition. 

Doctors at the hospital have previously treated patients who swallowed nails, wires and lighters, but this was their first case involving 180 nails. 

The man’s family members told Jimu News, a news portal under Hubei Daily, that he had a long history of mental illness and nobody knew why he swallowed so many nails. 

Li warns that people should not assume that small swallowed objects will pass on their own, particularly when they are metal or sharp. Such objects can become lodged in narrow sections of the digestive tract and cause injuries or perforation, potentially leading to peritonitis and life-threatening complications. 

Global Times