A 64-year-old man from eastern China's Anhui province discovered that a toothbrush he had unintentionally eaten as a youngster had lingered within his body for 52 years, according to a report in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The man, surnamed Yang, swallowed the toothbrush when he was 12 years old but was too afraid to tell his parents. He kept the problem to himself, believing it would dissolve or pass naturally, and experienced no discomfort for several years. "I thought it would break down in my stomach or somehow disappear," Yang was reported as saying.
However, more than fifty years later, he began experiencing peculiar abdominal feelings, causing him to attend a nearby hospital. What the physicians discovered next astonished everyone.
According to SCMP, physicians performed scans and internal investigations and discovered a foreign item trapped deep in his small intestine. It was recognised as a 17-centimetre-long toothbrush that had survived more than half a century inside the digestive tract.
The doctors promptly booked an endoscopic operation to remove the item. The operation, which lasted about 80 minutes, was a success, with physicians securely extracting the toothbrush without any further issues.
Dr Zhou, one of the doctors involved in the case, stated that a toothbrush can rotate and press against the intestinal walls, potentially resulting in perforation, internal bleeding, and, in severe circumstances, death.
What shocked doctors even more was the toothbrush's position. It had stayed rather immobile for many years, securely trapped in a bend of the small intestine. Its lack of movement may have prevented internal injury or infection, protecting Yang from potentially fatal complications.
According to hospital officials, it was one of the longest things retrieved from a patient's digestive tract in recent years.
Disclaimer: This information has been provided by a third party. India TV does not vouch for the authenticity of the claims made.
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