Surgeons remove iron and metallic objects from a patient

Chennai, Mar 1 (UNI) In a rare surgery performed at the Government General Hospital (GGH), a team of surgeons have removed various forms of iron and metallic objects from the stomach of a patient suffering from schizophrenia.

The hour-long surgery was performed on a 34-year-old man, Jumma Khan from Madurai, by a team headed by Dr Srikumar Damodharan, Prof HoD, surgical and Gastro enterology department at the hospital on February eight, Hospital Dean Dr Kalavathi Poniraivan told UNI here today.

She said Jumma Khan was a psyciatric patient for the last eight years and had been under treatment in Madurai for the last two years.

Suddenly, he stopped taking treatment for the last two to three months.

His psychiatric mind forced him to eat metal, floor tiles, and various forms of irons.

He was referred to the GGH here by his younger brother due to acute abdominal pain on February four. An endoscopy was done three days later which revealed presence of metallic objects in his stomach.

The surgery was performed on February eight and various forms of metallic objects were carefully removed.

''It is a very complicated surgery as some of the metals were sharp and had to be removed one by one'', the Dean and Dr Srikumar Damodharan said.

The items found in the stomach included, pieces of floor tiles, clips, nails, hinges, latches, small metal necklaces of cheaper quality, watches, toys, scissors, broken pieces of forks, coins, iron plates, iron screws, bobbins and nails of various sizes.

The patient is fast recovering and is now fit for discharge.

He would be under psychiatric treatment for few days here before being referred to the Madurai General Hospital for further treatment.

The dean said the surgery was performed free of cost.

UNI