Getting an object removed is something we’ve covered plenty of times on our website, but nothing has been alive during the process. Vietnamese doctors saved a man’s life after they removed a live foot-long eel from his abdomen.
On March 20, 2024, a 34-year-old man was admitted to the Hai Ha District Medical Center in Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam, with severe abdominal cramps. Doctors conducted an X-ray and an ultrasound to determine the problem, which revealed a foreign body in his abdomen, as well as intestinal perforation and peritonitis.
It was decided that the best way to help save the man was by conducting surgery to remove the suspicious object and try to mitigate the damage to the man’s intestines. After opening up the patient’s abdomen, doctors were shocked to find that the foreign object was actually a foot-long live eel.
Once the eel was removed from the patient, doctors proceeded to remove the necrotic colorectal segment of the intestines, which is a delicate procedure that carries a high potential for infection due to the proximity to the rectal area. Fortunately, the operation was a success and the patient was stabilized.
When asked how the eel ended up in his abdomen, the man was unable to provide an answer but doctors believe that the slippery animal crawled from the anus to the patient’s colon, bit through the intestine and entered the abdomen that way.