‘Scissors’ pulled from man’s stomach 18 years after surgery

This picture taken on December 31, 2016, shows a surgical instrument removed from a patient’s abdomen after being left behind during a surgery 18 years ago, at a clinic in the northern Vietnamese city of Thai Nguyen. An AFP report said a pair of “scissors” were removed from the abdomen of Ma Van Nhat, now 54, but the picture shows a curved hemostat clamp used for stopping bleeding during surgery. Ma underwent surgery in 1998 after a car accident and only recently discovered that doctors had left an unwelcome gift behind when they closed him up. AFP

HANOI, Vietnam — A Vietnamese man has had a surgical instrument removed from his abdomen which were left behind during surgery 18 years ago, after reporting a stomachache that was nearly two decades in the making.

Ma Van Nhat, now 54, underwent surgery in 1998 after a car accident and only recently discovered that doctors had left an unwelcome gift behind when they closed him up.

An AFP report said doctors discovered a pair of 15-centimeter (six-inch) “scissors” near his colon after a recent ultrasound. However, a picture of the instrument retrieved from the patient showed a curved hemostat clamp, which is used to stop bleeding during surgery.

He had a three-hour operation at the weekend to remove the instrument, according to Ngo Trung Thang, deputy head of general affairs at Gang Thep Thai Nguyen hospital, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Hanoi.

“He is recovering well,” Thang told AFP Tuesday.

Nhat had spent nearly two decades “eating, drinking and having a pretty normal life”, according to Suc Khoe va Doi Song news site, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s health ministry.

The ultrasound that discovered the instrument only came about after Nhat reported stomach pains.

Officials said they were searching for the doctors who performed surgery in Bac Kan province in 1998, but have not yet tracked down any culprits.  CBB