Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

These pictures show an apartment key and access fob inside a man who swallowed them on a drunken night out before he woke up thinking he had lost them.

The 26-year-old surnamed Chang thought he had lost his house keys and was shocked to be told the truth when he went to a hospital complaining of a mysterious chest pain.

Mr Chang sought out doctors at Dongguan People’s Hospital in China’s southern Guangdong Province, where the key popped up clearly in a series of X-rays.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

His doctor, Xu Zhe, recalled: “X-ray scans showed a key at the bottom of his oesophagus. It was stuck there, causing the pain in his chest.

“Our emergency and accident department contacted gastroenterology, and asked us to remove the key using an endoscope.

“However, when we were taking the X-rays, we were only able to see the metallic structure of the key. It was only after we went in endoscopically that we discovered other objects on the key, such as a door access tag.”

The complication meant that the key and access fob, which also came with metal key rings, were too big to remove via his oesophagus, and any attempt to force it through threatened to injure Mr Chang’s throat.

Another option was to wait and hope that Mr Chang could pass the set of keys naturally – but that also involved risking a bowel obstruction due to the size of the objects.

In the end, Doctor Xu and his team decided to return to an endoscopy with Mr Chang under full anaesthesia.

With his throat relaxed, the medic was able to retrieve the key and access tag set, causing no further injuries to the man.

Mr Chang said he did not recall swallowing the keys and thought he had misplaced them.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.