Man swallows his own phone as doctors battle to remove device from his stomach

A man has left people completely shocked after he swallowed his own phone prompting doctors to frantically try to save to him.

An initial X-ray showed the phone was resting above the man’s stomach

Horrified doctors have described the incredible case of the man who swallowed his mobile phone and had to have it surgically removed.

According to Daily Mail, the 29-year-old man, a prisoner was rushed to A&E in Dublin after vomiting for four hours.

Known to have psychiatric and social issues, he told staff he had swallowed his mobile phone six hours earlier. At first, a chest X-ray showed the device was resting in the part of the abdomen just above the stomach.

Eight hours later, scans revealed the phone had moved to his stomach but had not progressed into his bowel.

As a result, doctors at The Adelaide and Meath Hospital decided to operate, according to a write-up in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.

First, surgeons inserted an endoscope – a long, thin, flexible tube with a light and a video camera at the end – so they could locate the phone and drag it out of the patient’s stomach via his oesophagus.

But when this failed, they were forced to perform a laparotomy – where a large incision is made in the abdomen – and the device was successfully retrieved.

When the device was measured it, it was found to be 6.8 × 2.3 × 1.1 cm.

‘As the patient was a prisoner, the mobile phone had to be sent as a specimen for forensic examination,’ the doctors wrote in the journal.

Four months later, they saw him again and noted he had recovered well.

Surgery such as a laparotomy is required in less than 1 per cent of cases where people ingest foreign bodies, the doctors noted.

Surgeons tried to remove the device by putting a long, thin, tube with a camera on one end down his throat.

But when they were unable to drag the mobile out safely, surgery was the only option.

Around 10 – 20 per cent of patients undergo an endoscopy, which is the preferred procedure as it is less invasive and does not result in scarring.

Another paper in the journal BMJ Case reports said swallowing foreign objects in mostly reported in children younger than three years of age.

Coins and bones are the objects most commonly ingested.

Normally, the objects are passed naturally, but there is a high risk thin, sharp objects can perforate parts of the body.

In January this year a woman who used a comb to push tablets down her throat needed emergency surgery after it ended up in her stomach.

The unidentified Turkish patient is said to have swallowed the 20cm (8in) comb after using it to get medication down her gullet.

The woman, who unsurprisingly fainted following the incident, was rushed into surgery at the Akdeniz University Hospital, Antalya.

A doctor at the hospital said: ‘The woman later said she used the comb because the tablet had become lodged in her throat and she wanted to free it.

‘However, due to a sudden involuntary gag reflex the plastic comb passed through her throat and ended up in her stomach.’

An emergency team of specialist doctors and nurses performed the surgery, which lasted for 45 minutes.

She remained in hospital overnight and was discharged the the next day.

The doctor continued: ‘The incident could have been fatal had the comb lodged itself in her airway and constricted her breathing.’