Man has kilogram of nails, screws and knives removed from his stomach

In their years of practising medicine, doctors will have certainly come across some bizarre problems that need their medical attention (most recently, we covered how doctors freed a man’s penis stuck in the neck of a plastic bottle).

Doctors in Lithuania can certainly attest to this after they had the unusual job of removing more than a kilogram of nails and screws from a man’s stomach.

But how exactly did those bits of metal end up in the man’s digestive system?

Well, apparently the patient started snacking on the metallic objects after quitting alcohol.

The man (who is anonymous due to patient confidentiality) was admitted to hospital in the Baltic port city of Klaipeda with severe abdominal pain.

It was only when an X-ray of the man’s stomach was done that the metal was discovered.

No wonder the man had stomach pain – some of the pieces measuring up to 10cm (4in). Ouch.

“During the three-hour operation with X-ray control, all foreign bodies, even the smallest ones, in the patient’s stomach were removed,” said surgeon Sarunas Dailidenas.

The hospital provided a photograph, showing a surgical tray with the huge collection of nails and screws found inside the man (and there is a LOT), to local media (see below).

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Algirdas Slepavicius, head surgeon at Klaipeda Hospital said.

After he stopped drinking, the man has resorted to swallowing the metal objects over the last month, according to the doctor.

The head surgeon also revealed the good news that the patient was in a stable condition following the operation.