Overview
- A 32-year-old in Wenzhou sought help for stomach pain, and a scan showed a thermometer in the first part of his small intestine.
- He told doctors he had swallowed it at age 12 and kept it secret for two decades.
- Imaging showed the tip pressing on the intestinal wall close to the bile ducts, raising the risk of perforation or internal bleeding.
- Surgeons at the Longgang branch of The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University removed it in about 20 minutes, and the device came out intact with no mercury leak.
- The unusual case drew wide online attention, and Chinese media cite more than one million annual visits for swallowed objects, most involving children and items like fish bones, batteries, and dentures.