6-year-old boy suffered intestinal perforation after swallowing 4 magnets

On August 18, Dr. Chung Tan Dinh, Director of Soc Trang Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, said that the unit had just successfully performed surgery on a 6-year-old boy who swallowed 4 magnets, leading to intestinal perforation.

4 magnets swallowed by baby L. caused intestinal perforation

Five days earlier, Soc Trang Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital received a boy named HTL (6 years old, residing in Tai Van commune, Can Tho city) with severe pain in the right iliac fossa, showing signs of infection.

Through medical history, the family said that baby L. complained of abdominal pain, suspected to be due to swallowing a foreign object, the time of which was unknown. Initially, the pain appeared slowly, then gradually increased, causing baby L. to cry a lot and have a fever, so the family took him to the hospital.

At the hospital, the abdominal X-ray results showed a foreign object in the form of a string, located in the abdomen around the navel and right iliac fossa. The doctors held an interdisciplinary consultation and agreed to perform emergency laparoscopic surgery.

Currently, baby L's health is stable and is being monitored at the hospital.

During the surgery, it was discovered that four magnets stuck together, causing intestinal obstruction, resulting in two holes in two different locations. The medical team removed the foreign object and sutured the holes. Two days after the surgery, the baby's health condition was stable, he was able to defecate, but he needed to stay in the hospital for further monitoring.

Dr. Chung Tan Dinh, Director of Soc Trang Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, said that magnets are magnetic, so when two or more magnets are swallowed, they tend to stick together.

In this case, the 4 magnets were located in 2 different intestinal turns, they attracted each other causing the intestinal turns to stick together and cause intestinal obstruction. The attraction from the magnets created pressure on the intestinal wall causing local ischemia, which in turn caused necrosis and intestinal perforation leading to peritonitis. Fortunately, L.'s case was treated promptly.

TUAN QUANG

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/be-trai-6-tuoi-thung-ruot-do-nuot-4-vien-nam-cham-post808978.html