A team of doctors at a private hospital in Puducherry successfully performed a life saving endoscopic procedure to remove 13 hairpins, five safety pins and five razor blades from the stomach of a 20-year-old man with mental illness.
The team at Gastroenterology and Medical Centre (GEM) Hospital said the youth was admitted with complaints of severe abdominal pain, blood vomiting and abnormal stools.
Investigations revealed the presence of foreign bodies in his stomach. “He has complaints of psychiatric disorder from childhood. He denied ingesting any foreign bodies. But during the endoscopic procedure, we found the a hard mass in the stomach. There were many sharp objects rolled in. We call it a ‘foreign body bezoar’. This may lead to intestinal obstruction and perforation,” said GEM Hospital surgical gastroenterologist Dr K Sasikumar, who led the team which performed the procedure.
The team decided to remove the foreign particles endoscopically instead of an open surgery. “The patient’s parents also didn’t want an open surgery. We told them we will insert a tube into the mouth to reach the stomach and remove the objects. It is a challenging procedure as these are sharp objects,” surgical gastroenterologist Dr K Sugumaran, a member of the team, said.
The youth was admitted to the hospital on August 7. The team removed all the foreign bodies during the procedure which lasted for about two hours on August 8. The patient responded well to the treatment and he was discharged the next day, August 9. He started taking a normal oral diet the same evening, Dr K Sasikumar said.
The other members of the team included medical gastroenterologist Dr G Rajesh and anesthesiologist Dr Ranjith. GEM Hospitals chairman Dr C Palanivelu lauded the team for their commendable effort.
