19 toothbrushes, battery shells recovered from man’s stomach

MYMENSINGH, Bangladesh—Nineteen toothbrushes, four broken pieces of miswak sticks (twigs), a broken part of a tablespoon, two plastic wrappings, two broken shells of batteries and a piece of cloth – these might sound like a description of items found in a household trash bin.

Surprisingly, all these items were found inside the stomach of a 28-year-old man in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.

Doctors retrieved these objects after operating on Shamimur Rahman Akondo’s stomach at a private clinic in the district on March 18.

Shafiqul Islam, senior consultant of surgery at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH), who also practices medicine at the private clinic, conducted the surgery with his team.

He said there are instances in medical history of retrieving a toothbrush or a blade from a patient’s stomach, but existence of so many solid objects inside a man’s stomach was an astonishing case.

“It was a rare experience in my 16-year-long surgery career,” said Shafiqul, who led a team of doctors to conduct an hour-long operation on Shamimur.

Shamimur’s family members said he was a drug addict.

Hailing from Digarkanda area in Mymensingh town, Shamimur was admitted to the surgery unit of the MMCH with complaints of abdominal pain in the first week of March, his younger brother Shahinoor Rahman told this correspondent.

After admission, the doctors at the unit had fixed a date for operation, but Shamim fled the hospital after a few days.

“As he felt severe pain again, we took him to the MMCH but doctors suggested taking him to Dhaka for better treatment,” said Shahinoor.

But considering the cost of the treatment and other related expenses, they got him admitted to a private hospital in the town on March 18 and he went through the surgery around 11 p.m. that night.

Shahinoor also said his brother used to stay at home. He did not finish his primary education and helped his family in farming.

Shamimur started smoking marijuana around eight years ago and soon became an addict, said his brother.

“We even had to get him admitted to various drug rehabilitation centers over the last few years.”

On February 4 this year, he was admitted to a rehabilitation center and was released from after a few days, his family members said.

Masud Hasan, anesthetist of the surgery unit of the MMCH, said, “It seemed that he must have eaten those toothbrushes when he was at the rehabilitation centers.” He was one of the members of the team of doctors who performed the surgery.

Hasan said Shamimur might have been in such a state of mind that he could not realize what he was eating.

He had also developed psychological problems due to taking drugs for a long time, said the doctor.

Patients with such psychological problems could take solid objects absent-mindedly, but the retrieval of so many items from his stomach was a rare case in medical science, said Hasan.

After the news spread, curious people from different areas of the town gathered at the hospital to see the patient. Helal Uddin, manager of the hospital, said he did not find such a case in his 12-year-long service at the hospital.

Shamimur was released from the hospital Friday afternoon, said Dr. Shafiq, adding that the patient can now walk.

He may live a normal life if he does not eat inedible objects again, he said.

Contacted, Motiur Rahman Bhuiyan, secretary of Bangladesh Medical Association Mymensingh unit, said the discovery of so many items from Shamimur’s stomach had become a talk of the town.