‘Doctors in India remove 72 coins from man’s stomach’

story by Sumesh Rajan

In a bizarre case, 72 coins and four other metallic objects were surgically removed from the stomach of a 50 year old man from India, on November 30.

Krishna Somalya Sambar, a tribal hailing from Thoratpada, a hamlet in Talasari taluka of Palghar district, close to Mumbai in Maharashtra state, had frequent bouts of abdominal pain and vomiting.  

“He was referred to me for frequent abdominal pain and vomiting. After doing an x-ray, we found that some metal foreign bodies were lodged in his abdomen. We were not sure of its location, and did a gastroscopy. Then we came to know that the entire foreign body was stuck at the pylorus, the distant most part of the stomach,” said Dr. Amit Sharad Kele of Krishna Hospital, Canada Corner, Nashik.

He further added, “We removed the entire foreign body using endoscope and special equipments. In all, 76 metal bodies, including 72 coins and 4 other metallic objects were removed, without a single cut / wound to the patient. It took around three and a half hours for the entire procedure which was done under general anesthesia.”

“He is suffering from bezoar - a gastrointestinal disorder due to pica which is also called as metallophagia, a compulsive disorder of eating non-nutritional substances, for the past 20 years. This made him a habitual eater of iron and metal coins. Some got flushed out of his system in the natural course of excretion but others remained stuck in his abdomen, causing pain and vomiting,” said Dr. Kele.

He added that Sambar's condition was improving and would be discharged soon.