Cairo: Surgeons at a hospital in Saudi Arabia have removed a magnetic chain from a boy’s abdomen where it had reportedly settled there for around three years.
The metal item was successfully extricated in a three-hour operation, Okaz newspaper has reported.
A medical team at the maternity and children hospital had initially detected an odd thing inside the intestines of the 10-year-old boy after carrying out clinical tests for him, Sabq news website, citing the Health Cluster, a medical complex in the city of Mecca.
The boy had had been admitted into the hospital’s emergency department with severe pain in the abdomen and chronic constipation. Imaging showed there was a four-piece magnetic chain that the boy had swallowed three years ago and settled inside the stomach, the report said.
The item was pulled out through an endoscopy. Following the procedure, the child was put under close medical observation until his condition became stable.
Medical professionals have warned against overlooking children’s playing with magnetic toys, saying they are among the most lethal items potentially swallowed by kids due to their dangerous consequences that usually necessitate medical intervention. Okaz quoted the medical team as saying that 52 per cent of such swallowings require endoscopy, 22 per cent surgical intervention and 8 per cent surgical-cum-endoscope intervention.
They have also cautioned parents against bringing such toys to their children, saying they are life-threatening.
Swallowing magnetic pieces is globally on the increase, accounting for 6 per cent of the cases, they added.
