Surgeons find 150 household items in body of man who complained of stomach pain

Patient dies after operation to remove items including nuts and bolts, lockets, buttons and hair clips, with family saying they had no idea he was ingesting them

About 150 items recovered from man’s stomach in Punjab, India (Moga Medicity Hospital)

Doctors in India removed buttons, earphones, and a zipper tag among 150 small household items from the stomach of a man who came to them complaining of pain.

Doctors at the Medicity Hospital in Moga city of the northern state of Punjab conducted a three-hour-long surgery and said it was the first time they had come across such a unique case.

A 40-year-old man was admitted to the hospital on Monday with complaints of fever, stomach ache and nausea, which had been ailing him for almost a month.

The doctors suggested an ultrasound exam and found a variety of metallic items inside the man's stomach. He was rushed to surgery and was later placed on life support, but eventually died on Thursday morning.

During the laparotomy, the doctors managed to retrieve nearly 150 items, which included a safety pin, nuts and bolts, wires, thread, lockets, buttons, wrappers, hair clips, a marble, and a chain of beads.

Director of the hospital Ajmer Kalra told The Independent that the metal items caused severe sepsis inside the stomach.

“I’ve never seen such a condition in my years of practice. It is not rare to find hair or minuscule things inside patients’ stomach but nearly 150 items is unprecedented,” Dr Kalra said.

The patient’s family told India Today that the man had been suffering from stomach issues for over two years but rarely mentioned it to them and it “... made it difficult for us to understand the situation”.

He was taken to several local doctors but they were unable to detect the cause of the stomach aches, they said.

The man was eventually taken to the hospital once his symptoms worsened and he couldn’t sleep, his family said.

They had no idea how the man managed to ingest all the items, they said.