Nails, screws & latches: Russian surgeons remove 152 objects from babushka’s stomach (PHOTO)
Surgeons in the Russian Republic of Buryatia were shocked to discover 152 foreign objects, including nails, screws and latches, inside the stomach of a 74-year-old woman.
The doctors at Semashko Republican Hospital in Ulan-Ude, located 100 km southeast of Lake Baikal, opted for an endoscopy to reveal the reasons of unexplained fever experienced by the woman, the medical facility said Monday. Four nails were removed from her stomach during the procedure, which revealed many more foreign objects inside her body.
The patient was swiftly taken to surgery where numerous metallic items were extracted from her stomach. According to surgeon Bulat Shobolov, they included “nails, screws, screwdriver attachments, door latches and even a silver chain.”
“There were 152 metallic elements in all, weighing over a kilogram,” Shobolov told local journalists. The largest of the removed items was a 15-centimeter construction nail, he said, adding that all of the metal objects were gathered and handed over to the woman’s relatives. The hospital added that the metal items had already “begun to oxidize,” which indicate that they had been inside for a significant period of time.
The surgery progressed without complications and the patient’s “life is now out of danger,” Shobolov said. He added that medics feared perforation of the stomach by sharp items – which could have led to serious complications, including death – but the woman’s abdominal cavity appeared to be in normal condition.
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The woman’s relatives told medical staff how and why the metal objects ended up inside her stomach, but the surgeon refused to disclose the information to journalists, citing “ethical reasons.” He only said that the patient in currently being treated at the neurology department. Shobolov described the case as very unusual, saying he had never encountered anything like this before.
Globally, however, other similar cases have been known. Doctors in India had to remove 7 kilograms of metal items, including coins, nails, shaving blades, glass shards and stones from the stomach of a 35-year-old man in November.
