New Delhi: It’s bizarre for sure, but alarming as well.
An 11-year-old Chinese boy swallowed a 100-gram gold bar while playing at home in Jiangsu province.
Although he didn’t report any pain or discomfort, Qian noticed unusual bloating of his abdomen, and alerted his parents.
His family took the minor boy to Suzhou University Affiliated Children’s Hospital to seek medical opinion.
Doctors there conducted an X-ray and discovered a heavy metallic object lodged in the boy’s intestines, reported the South China Morning Post.
Further investigation revealed that it was a solid gold bar weighing around 100 grams.
Doctors in the medical team put their heads together to decide the best course of action. They were initially against any kind of invasive action, and hence gave him medication hoping that the gold bar will pass naturally through his digestive system.
However, that plan didn’t work out as two days later, a follow-up scan revealed that the gold bar had not moved at all. Doctors then got worried and were concerned about a possible intestinal blockage or internal damage.
To eliminate the risk, the medical team then decided to perform an endoscopic surgery to extract the bar. The surgery, carried out by two surgeons, took just 30 minutes and the gold bar was removed without any complication.
Qian returned to his normal diet within two days of the surgery, and was discharged from hospital shortly afterwards. The foreign object had not caused any long-term damage to his digestive system, doctors confirmed.
