India, doctors removed a 19cm-long brush within 24 hours, fearing that leaving any longer could have been fatal. The unnamed patient, 39 years old, was brushing his teeth on September 15 when it slipped. The man then rushed to a nearby health clinic, which quickly referred him to a hospital more than 100km away.
At the hospital, an x-ray was done but couldn’t exactly locate the brush in the man’s throat – leading doctors to conclude it was in his stomach.
A minor operation then was performed and the brush was successfully removed from the guy’s stomach.
The man remained in hospital while he recovered and was discharged a few days later.
A senior surgeon at baking Pertin General Hospital, Pradesh, India, Dr. Bomni Tayeng, said, “The patient was taken to a private hospital in Pasighat – from there he was referred to our hospital.
“The ENT surgeon of our hospital investigated the patient and planned to conduct an esophagoscopy, while I checked the patient at around 6 pm.
“The esophagoscopy procedure was conducted on September 16 morning, but the toothbrush couldn’t be found in the esophagus – the muscular tube connecting the pharynx (throat) with the stomach.
“This meant that the toothbrush had entered into the stomach,”.
Dr. Tayeng also mentioned that the patient was not feeling any kind of pain after ingesting the toothbrush and was experiencing only minor discomfort in his upper abdomen.
He said, “As the toothbrush couldn’t be detected in the x-ray, I then decided to conduct an exploratory laparotomy process under general anesthesia in the same sitting.
“The brush could be easily felt in the stomach and was removed through a small incision in the stomach. This procedure took only about 30 minutes.
“The very next day he started taking oral fluids and had an uneventful recovery. He was discharged on September 21.”
Source: Metro