What was in the fish noodle bowl that caused a man's intestines to rupture?

(Dan Tri) - After swallowing a 4cm long fish bone, a 33-year-old male patient in Phu Tho suffered a perforated small intestine, forming a dangerous abdominal abscess.

The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases has just successfully treated a male patient in Phu Tho . The patient had a 4cm long fish bone fragment that punctured his small intestine, causing an abdominal abscess.

Previously, patient DTL was hospitalized with severe abdominal pain in the right lower quadrant, mild fever of 38-38.5 ^degrees Celsius, abdominal pain when pressed, and abdominal wall reaction.

Test results showed an elevated white blood cell count (12 G/L), leading to an initial diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Mr. L. said he regularly ate fish. The morning before he was admitted to the hospital, he ate fish noodles, and then experienced a dull pain in the epigastric region.

Thinking he had a stomach ache (due to a history of stomach pain before), the patient took medicine on his own but it did not help. At noon of the same day, the pain moved to the lower abdomen.

By afternoon, the pain had become more severe and he had to go to a nearby clinic for a check-up. He was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome and possibly appendicitis and was advised to undergo monitoring.

At 5:30 p.m., the pain did not subside and he started to have a slight fever, so his family took him to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

Fish bone punctured the patient's small intestine (Photo: Provided by the hospital).

At the Hepatobiliary - Digestive Surgery Center, based on test results, ultrasound, CT scan and clinical monitoring, Mr. L. was diagnosed with small intestine perforation due to a foreign object and was scheduled for emergency surgery that same night.

During the surgery, the surgical team discovered that the patient's abdominal cavity had cloudy fluid and was severely infected. The pelvic area and appendix in the right iliac fossa were congested and inflamed.

An abscess in the small intestine located about 1 meter from the ileocecal angle, caused by a 4cm long fish bone fragment piercing the small intestine.

10cm away, there was a large Meckel's diverticulum. The doctors removed the inflamed appendix, cut the small intestine containing the diverticulum and abscess, and cleaned the abdominal cavity. 2 days after surgery, the patient recovered well and will soon be discharged.

Dr. Nguyen Minh Trong, Director of the Center, said: “In most cases of swallowed fish bones, foreign objects are usually eliminated naturally. However, with fish bone fragments of abnormal shape, they can stick into the wall of the small intestine and gradually penetrate deeper, causing a hole and causing inflammation, pain, and forming an abscess.”

Dr. Trong emphasized that fish bones can harm the digestive tract due to the poking and stabbing mechanism, leading to dangerous complications such as abscesses and esophagitis if stuck in the esophagus, perforation of the stomach, small intestine, or large intestine.

More seriously, bones can puncture surrounding organs or cause peritonitis (abdominal infection), which is life-threatening and makes treatment difficult.

People need to be extremely careful when eating fish, especially fish with many bones. In case of suspected fish bone ingestion and signs of abdominal pain, fever, or prolonged discomfort, go to a medical facility immediately for early detection of foreign objects.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/thu-trong-bat-bun-ca-khien-nguoi-dan-ong-thung-ruot-20250924103849448.htm