In China, 17-centimeter sweet potato removed from patient's body: unusual surgery.

According to ТСН: In China, doctors found themselves in a rather unusual situation: they had to perform a laparotomy to remove a large sweet potato that a 61-year-old man had inserted into his rectum by himself. According to him, he did this 'out of boredom' one night and then went to sleep.

Waking up in the middle of the night from acute stomach pain, he tried to remove the object by himself, but all his efforts were in vain.

Problems with removal

At around 4 AM, when the pain became unbearable, the man sought help at a hospital in Chengdu. The medics were shocked by the situation and tried to solve the problem in less invasive ways. Among their attempts was breaking the potato, but it turned out to be too hard. They also failed to extract the object using a corkscrew.

Surgical intervention

After consultations with the patient, it was decided to carry out surgical intervention. The doctors made an incision in the abdomen and were able to remove the foreign object, finally relieving the man of his suffering.

Dr. Xu Guolin, deputy director of the proctology and dermatology department of the hospital, noted that the object was approximately 17 cm long and nearly 7 cm wide.

The doctors note that such cases, although shocking, are not uncommon. For example, in November, medics in Taiwan discovered a ceramic cup in another man's rectum, which had entered upside down. The man only sought help after three days of unsuccessful attempts to defecate. To remove the cup, doctors had to both cut the abdomen and the intestine. When asked how the cup ended up inside, the patient replied:

‘I don't know, it was an accident.’

This case once again emphasizes the importance of caution and common sense when experimenting with one's own body. Such unpredictable situations can lead to serious medical complications, and, no matter how strange it sounds, similar stories often become a reality for medics.