Chinese man, 32, suffers stomach pain, discovers thermometer swallowed as child still inside him
Surgeons perform emergency operation to remove offending object; extracted device remains intact but temperature measurements had faded
A 32-year-old Chinese man who went to hospital suffering from stomach pain was shocked to discover that a mercury thermometer he had swallowed 20 years ago was still inside him.
The man, surnamed Wang, from Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, southeastern China, had sought treatment at the Longgang branch of The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University.
A scan revealed a foreign object in his duodenum, which doctors highly suspected to be a mercury thermometer.
As the tip of the thermometer was pressing directly against the intestinal wall, it posed a high risk of perforation and severe internal bleeding.
Wang revealed that he had accidentally swallowed the thermometer at the age of 12, but was too afraid to tell his parents.
At the time, his parents were also busy with work, and since he had no symptoms, the incident was eventually forgotten.