NDTV – In Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province, a 34-year-old man experienced severe abdominal cramps, leading to a startling diagnosis. Doctors at the Hai Ha district medical centre, responding to his complaints, conducted an X-ray and ultrasound, revealing a foreign object lodged in his abdomen.
This caused peritonitis, a life-threatening condition where the abdominal lining becomes inflamed, as reported by Oddity Central. Emergency surgery ensued to remove the mystery object, revealing a live eel approximately 30 centimetres long wriggling inside the man’s abdomen.
Believed to have entered through his rectum and traveled up his colon, the eel caused intestinal perforation. Medics meticulously extracted the eel and damaged tissue from his intestines, as per the news outlet.
The delicate operation was a success, and the patient, experiencing only mild discomfort after the ordeal, is recovering well under observation. The cause of the eel’s presence remains a mystery, though doctors suspect it somehow navigated its way from the man’s rectum into his abdomen. The fact that the eel was still alive upon removal further added to the medical team’s surprise.
After taking out the eel, the doctors carefully removed the damaged part of the intestines near the bottom. This was risky because it’s close to the rectum and could easily get infected. Thankfully, the surgery went well, and the patient got better.
“This is an uncommon case,” remarked Dr Pham Manh Hung to local media. “The rectum is a highly contaminated area, and infections are a major concern. Thankfully, the surgery was successful.”
