A group of doctors have reported a strange case in which they were forced to remove more than 450 small metal objects from the stomach of a 37-year-old man.
Finally, more than 3 kilos of screws, metal nuts, keys, plates and “other metal pieces”, as well as stones, were found inside the patient.
Shocking X-rays show the mass of metal blocking the man’s stomach outlet, causing him chronic stomach pain and frequent vomiting that left him unable to eat or drink.
Doctors in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, near the country’s border with Iraq, who reported the case, said the patient was eventually diagnosed with psychosis, a mental condition in which a person loses touch with reality.
Documenting the case in the Journal of medical case reportsDoctors said they believed the patient had been ingesting the metal collection for at least three months.
Startling X-rays show the mass of metal blocking the man’s stomach exit, with the 37-year-old believed to have ingested the metallic collection for at least three months.
An endoscopy, where a small, flexible camera is inserted into the throat, also confirmed the metal mass.
Doctors took the man into surgery and through an incision in his stomach removed a total of 452 “screws, nuts, keys, stones and other pieces of metal” weighing 2.9 kg, or about 6.5 pounds.
The patient reportedly recovered well from the surgery and was diagnosed with psychosis shortly afterward.
Psychosis It can take the form of hallucinations, but it can also lead to delusions about the real world, as well as confusing and strange thoughts.
Psychosis is often triggered by another mental health problem, such as severe, chronic depression, or other causes such as a head injury, brain tumor, or drug addiction.
Doctors detailing the recent case did not specify what they believe caused the man’s psychosis, but did say he was “heavily addicted to opium.”
Despite the huge amount of metal consumed, the man had apparently suffered no ill effects prior to his first hospital admission for this problem.
Doctors took the man out of surgery and, through an incision in his stomach, removed a total of 452 “screws, nuts, keys, stones and other pieces of metal” weighing 2.9 kg, approximately 6.5 pounds.
Subsequent tests also revealed that no metal objects had entered other parts of his digestive system.
Doctors said their patient was diagnosed with psychosis three days after the stomach operation and was transferred to a psychiatric hospital a week after the surgery.
They added that two weeks later the patient returned to them for a post-operative evaluation which showed no signs of complications.
Although not a term used in the case report, compulsive consumption of non-edible items, such as hair, paper and sand, is medically referred to as pica.
Young children, as well as adults with learning disabilities, are among the most common people to suffer from pica, but adults under stress or mental pressure or with a deficiency of iron or zinc in their diet can sometimes also develop it.
Pregnant women can also develop pica in what is thought to be a reaction to the body’s search for certain types of nutrients.