Doctors in Ho Chi Minh City recently saved a 26-month-old boy from the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap suffering severe intestinal obstruction after the child swallowed a ring of 14 rusted magnet marbles.

The Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital said on Tuesday that L.T.Q., 26 months old, is being further monitored for intestinal mucosal damage and gastrointestinal function.

Q. was admitted to the hospital in a state of restlessness, discomfort, coupled with abdominal pain and vomiting.

A family member told doctors at the hospital that Q. had swallowed a ring of magnet marbles a month before.

After the family took Q. to a local medical facility, the child underwent an X-ray and was diagnosed with foreign bodies in his small intestine.

Local doctors then prescribed purging medicine and asked the boy’s family to monitor his poop.

The baby had normal bowel movements before he was uncomfortable, had abdominal pain, and vomited.

The family thus took Q. to the Ho Chi Minh City Children’s Hospital, where doctors took another X-ray of his abdomen and found the foreign bodies were still in the small intestine.

The Ho Chi Minh City doctors then carried out emergency gastrointestinal endoscopy and laparoscopy before deciding to conduct a small bowel resection on him.

One week after the surgery, during which 14 magnetic marbles of different colors were removed from his small intestine, the baby no longer had stomach pains and vomiting symptoms.

He is now in a clear-minded state and is resuming eating by mouth.

Doctors said that some of the marbles were rusty, causing serious intestinal damage to the baby.

They advised parents to be cautious to keep small objects out of children’s reach.

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