Doctors at Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City have removed 31 magnetic toy balls from the small intestine of a three-year-old boy and sutured eight intestinal perforations, the hospital reported on Wednesday.

The boy was hospitalized with a stomachache, vomiting, bloating, and fever.

An X-ray showed dozens of round foreign bodies forming two chains in the patient’s small intestine.

Doctors thought the objects were magnetic balls and immediately performed an emergency surgery on the boy.

Doctor Nguyen Hien from Children's Hospital 2, the main surgeon in the operating room, said the boy had suffered many intestinal perforations.

One magnetic ball chain was in the first part of the small intestine and the other was found in the last part of it, Hien explained.

The 31 magnetic toy balls were the most magnetic objects ever removed from a patient at the hospital, the doctor added.

The boy had been playing alone when he swallowed the magnetic balls

Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach, deputy director of Children's Hospital 2, said that the hospital perform surgeries for over 10 cases of intestinal perforations due to magnetic object ingestion per year.

He urged parents of young children to be vigilant about the toys and items around their kids, remove any dangerous toys, regularly inspect children's toys, and avoid letting them play alone.

Dr. Thach highlighted that swallowing foreign objects is a common issue for children aged one to six.

Ingesting magnetic objects is extremely dangerous as the magnetic objects can cause parts of the intestinal wall to stick to each other, leading to ischemia, necrosis, and perforations.

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