After a month of abdominal pain, he went to many doctors without finding a cure. A 69-year-old male patient suddenly discovered a long, sharp bone fragment piercing his colon.
Mr. Pham Huu N. (69 years old) in Dong Trieu town said that 1 month ago, he felt a dull pain in his lower abdomen, so he went to a medical facility near his home and was diagnosed with gastritis, so he was given medicine to take.
His condition did not improve, so he continued to go to many doctors, but the abdominal pain continued to increase, making Mr. N. and his family extremely worried.
“I went to the doctor 5 times at 4 different places, had all the ultrasound scans, and MRI scans, but still no diagnosis,” Mr. N. said and said he took a lot of medicine but it didn’t help.
When he had a dull pain in his stomach and could no longer walk, his family took him to Quang Ninh Provincial General Hospital for examination.
Ultrasound and computed tomography results revealed that there was an outbreak near Mr. N.’s colon, with a long rod-shaped foreign body penetrating his colon. Laparoscopic surgery to remove the foreign body was indicated.
During the surgery, the doctor discovered that in the middle of the transverse colon there was a large inflammatory mass covered by the omentum, a lot of pus was removed, and in the middle was a strong foreign object, a 3cm long fish bone, piercing the intestinal wall.
The doctor’s team cleaned the abscess, removed the foreign object, cut the transverse colon abscessed by the fish bone to the healthy intestine, then sutured the intestine to restore gastrointestinal circulation.
After 1 week of treatment, the patient’s health condition is stable, the incision is dry, he eats well, and has normal bowel movements.
Doctor examines patient. (Photo: BVCC)
Doctor II Pham Viet Hung, Head of the Department of Surgery, Quang Ninh Provincial General Hospital, said that a bone punctured his intestines but Mr. N. did not know because the clinical symptoms were unclear. When a bone fragment was discovered in the patient’s abdomen for 1 month, it caused peritonitis.
“If this condition is not detected and treated promptly, the inflammation will spread, causing the risk of sepsis, threatening life.”said Dr. Hung.
Dr. Hung shared that breaking bones and perforating internal organs is a common accident. When fish bones enter the digestive tract, they can puncture the stomach or intestines, causing many dangers.
Doctors recommend that when eating, people should not eat in a hurry, talk or laugh while eating, especially the elderly and young children. We need to focus on eating and chewing thoroughly to limit the possibility of foreign objects entering the food and airways.
When accidentally choking or swallowing fish bones and experiencing unusual abdominal pain, people need to immediately go to a reputable medical facility for examination, detection and timely treatment.
Nguyen Ngoan
