Doctors remove 27 magnets from intestines, stomach of 2-year-old in Vietnam
Thursday, February 13, 2025, 10:36 GMT+7
A hospital in Vietnam reported on Tuesday night that its doctors had successfully performed emergency endoscopy, laparoscopic surgery, and open surgery on a two-year-old girl who swallowed 27 magnets, resulting in perforations in her intestines and stomach.
The two-year-old girl, D.K.A., was rushed to Dong Nai Children’s Hospital in the namesake southern province with symptoms of abdominal pain, suspected of having swallowed foreign objects.
Two days prior, the girl had complained of mild abdominal pain around her navel, which occurred occasionally, so her family did not pay much attention.
On Sunday evening, her mother accidentally discovered that the child had swallowed something, so she took her to the hospital for an examination the following morning.
After conducting an ultrasound and X-ray, doctors found a highly visible foreign object in the child’s intestines and decided to admit her to the hospital. Later that afternoon, the doctors performed an emergency gastroscopy for the child.
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| An X-ray image shows foreign objects in the girl’s intestines. Photo: A.B. |
The doctors discovered 11 magnets in the child’s stomach arranged vertically, pressing against the lower part of the stomach.
They successfully removed 10 of the magnets, but the last one was firmly embedded in the stomach lining and could not be removed.
The doctors then decided to switch to laparoscopic surgery to examine the entire abdominal cavity.
During the laparoscopic procedure, the surgeons found a portion of the small intestine was tightly adhered. The surgical team then opted to perform an open surgery.
In the open surgery, the doctors separated the adhered small intestine section and discovered a hole and eight magnets in the small intestine. The doctors removed the eight magnets from the small intestine and stitched the perforation.
The doctors continued to open the girl’s stomach to search for the earlier-found magnet. Unexpectedly, they found the magnet still lodged in a small intestine section near the duodenum.
Upon separating two magnets, the surgeons discovered two additional perforations on the stomach and the small intestine.
Through these perforations, the surgeons removed the earlier-found magnet and eight other square-shaped magnets measuring some 3mm each side from the abdomen.
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| The magnets which were removed from the girl’s intestines. Photo: A.B. |
Doctor Lu Qui Trang at Dong Nai Children's Hospital, who performed the surgery, described the operation as 'special' due to the combination of emergency endoscopy, laparoscopic surgery, and open surgery.
The surgery was successfully completed after three hours.
The child's health is now stable.
Although she still experiences pain at the incision site, her abdomen is not bloated, she has no fever, can pass stools, and is expected to be discharged within a week, doctor Trang added.
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