A 42-year-old man in India swallowed 40 knives for two months and had them surgically removed from his stomach, according to doctors who operated on him.
In a report by CNN, Dr. Jatinder Malhotra, the managing director of The Corporate Hospital, said it took them two days to plan the surgery and diagnosis of the “metal-eating” patient, who was confined due to severe stomachache last week.
SCREENGRAB from Times of India
“He had a wild urge to consume metal. Even for us, the experienced surgeons, it was frightening,” the physician told CNN. “We were so nervous… a small mistake could have taken the patient’s life. In my 20 years of practice, I have never seen anything like it.”
The operation, which lasted five hours, took place in Amritsar, a northern Indian city in Punjab state on Friday.
The patient’s endoscopy revealed that several metallic knives were stacked up inside his stomach. During the first operation, the surgeons extracted 28 knives, some of which were folded, rusted or broken. When the surgeons did another scan, they located 12 other knives. The patient, who is a father of two, said that he would be discharged “in a few days,” according to the Times of India.
SCREENGRAB from Times of India
“I’m sorry I let my family down. I’ll be forever thankful to doctors and hospital staff for saving my life,” he told CNN. When asked why he developed an itching urge to swallow metals, he confessed that he “loved the way blades tasted.”
“I don’t know why I used to swallow knives,” he told the news site. “I just enjoyed its taste and I was addicted … how people get addicted to alcohol and other things, my situation was similar.”
Malhotra advised the patient that he could consume spinach if he felt he lacked iron in his body.
Gianna Francesca Catolico
