Story By: Marija Petrovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
These images show the toothbrush doctor’s have removed from a man’s intestine 20 years after he swallowed it.
The 51-year-old patient surnamed Li was experiencing pain in his abdomen so doctors scheduled a CT scan for him in Shenzhen, a major city in the Guangdong Province in China.
Doctors then saw the toothbrush lodged in the bile duct in his small intestine and Li told doctors he had swallowed the object 20 years ago in a suicide attempt while he was in prison.
Pictures Credit: AsiaWire
Li had reportedly contracted HIV through his drug use and decided to kill himself by swallowing the toothbrush, but his suicide attempt failed and seemingly left him with no discomfort whatsoever.
Li then stopped taking drugs and began HIV treatment. He was later released from prison, given the all-clear from HIV negative and married. He now has two children.
The Chinese surgeons used an endoscope to retrieve the toothbrush, which after 20 years in the man’s intestines had been considerably altered, and looked bare without the bristles.
Local media report it could have reached the liver and led to a fatal infection if it had been left there.
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