Chinese man, 64, finds toothbrush he swallowed at age 12 stuck in intestine, needs surgery
A 64-year-old Chinese man who felt a strange sensation in his stomach and went to the doctor was shocked to discover that a toothbrush had been stuck in his intestines for 52 years.
The man, surnamed Yang, from eastern China's Anhui province, said he remembered swallowing it at the age of 12 and was too scared to tell his parents about it.
Yang said he thought the toothbrush would dissolve on its own and had not felt anything untoward until recently.
Hospital doctors checked his digestive system and found the toothbrush stuck in his small intestine.
They performed endoscopic surgery on him and took the rogue 17-cm dental implement out of his body in 80 minutes.
It was one of the longest items the hospital had taken out of a patient's digestive system in the past three years.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China doctors remove 2kg hairball from girl's stomach – condition caused by six-year habit
Doctors in China had to remove a 2 kg 'hair ball' from the stomach of a teenage girl after she became addicted to pulling out and eating her own hair over a six-year period. In July, the 15-year-old, nicknamed Nini, from Henan province in central China, went to Wuhan Children's Hospital in the neighbouring province of Hubei with her mother. The girl was extremely thin, standing at 1.6m but weighing only 35kg. Also, she had not menstruated for six months, the Hubei Daily reported. Surgeons removed many clumps of hair mixed with food residue from the teenager's stomach. Photo: Douyin Her mother took Nini for treatment for a fierce stomach ache that prevented her from eating and almost made her collapse. Nini was also diagnosed with serious anaemia, the report said. The girl's mother told doctors that the girl had been eating her own hair for six years. Doctors discovered a 'hairball' composed of hair and food residue occupying almost her whole stomach. They concluded it was the cause of the girl's series of illnesses.
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Risk of importing chikungunya into Hong Kong expected to rise: health official
The risk of importing the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus into Hong Kong is expected to rise, according to a senior health official, who has identified the increasing global prevalence of the disease caused by climate change and residents' frequent summer travel as factors. But Ronald Lam Man-kin, director of the Department of Health, sought on Sunday to reassure the public that the risk of local transmission would remain low, as long as proper disease control measures were in place. According to the World Health Organization, local transmission of chikungunya has been recorded in more than 119 countries and regions. As of July, more than 240,000 cases had been reported, claiming about 90 lives worldwide, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Lam noted that the increasing global incidence of chikungunya has raised the potential for importation into Hong Kong. 'Due to the climate irregularities in recent years, mosquito reproduction during the windy and rainy seasons has been particularly active... Mosquitoes used to mostly live in tropical or subtropical areas, but because of climate change their distribution has extended to temperate areas,' he told a radio programme. 'In addition, as it is the summer holiday, many travel and some may get infected during their trips. When they return and are bitten by mosquitoes, it might lead to local transmissions.'
South China Morning Post
13 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
New Chinese see-through brain technique offers clearest view of its inner workings
Chinese scientists have developed a technology that can make organs such as the brain or the heart transparent, allowing an exceptionally clear view of their inner workings. The new method produced 'highly accurate and vivid' 3D images of organs by preserving the integrity of their biological structures and enhancing the brightness of the fluorescent dyes scientists use to highlight cells and molecules. The Tsinghua University-led team wrote in the journal Cell that this method was capable of unravelling individual human neurons' micro-connectivity in the brain as well as allowing them to study mouse organs '[The method] prepares ionic glassy tissue that is highly transparent while maintaining the original tissue morphology,' they wrote. They added that at low temperatures the tissues formed a glassy solid that maintained its structural integrity and could be stored over the long-term.
