Fish bone pierces man's intestine

Mr. Pham Huu N. (69 years old) in Dong Trieu town said that a 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 and given medicine to take.

His condition did not improve so he continued to go to many places for examination, but the abdominal pain continued to increase, making Mr. N. and his family extremely worried.

“I went to 4 different places for check-ups 5 times, had ultrasounds and even MRIs, but still couldn’t find the disease,” Mr. N. said, adding that he had taken a lot of medicine but it didn’t help.

His stomach ached until he could no longer walk, so his family took him to Quang Ninh General Hospital for examination.

Ultrasound and CT scan results revealed an infection near Mr. N's colon, with a long rod-shaped foreign object penetrating the colon. Laparoscopic surgery was indicated to remove the foreign object.

During surgery, the doctor discovered a large inflammatory mass in the middle of the transverse colon covered by the omentum, which released a lot of pus. In the middle was a 3cm long fish bone that had pierced the intestinal wall.

The medical team cleaned the abscess, removed the foreign object, cut the section of the transverse colon that was abscessed due to the fish bone to the healthy intestine, then sutured the intestine to restore digestive circulation.

After 1 week of treatment, the patient's health condition is stable, the surgical wound is dry, eating well, and defecating normally.

Dr. Pham Viet Hung, Head of the Department of Surgery, Quang Ninh General Hospital, said that Mr. N. did not know that a bone had punctured his intestines because the clinical symptoms were unclear. When the bone fragment was discovered in the patient's abdomen for a month, it caused peritonitis.

" If this condition is not detected and treated promptly, the infection will spread, leading to the risk of sepsis and life-threatening infection," said Dr. Hung.

Dr. Hung shared that fish bones stuck in the throat causing perforation of internal organs is a common accident. When fish bones enter the digestive tract, they can puncture the stomach and intestines, causing many dangers.

Doctors recommend that when eating, people should not eat in a hurry, talk or laugh while eating, especially for the elderly and children. We need to focus on eating and chewing thoroughly to limit the situation of foreign objects entering the digestive tract and airways.

When accidentally choking or swallowing a fish bone and experiencing unusual abdominal pain, people should immediately go to a reputable medical facility for timely examination, detection and treatment.

Nguyen Ngoan

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