A 34-year-old man in Vietnam's northern Quang Ninh Province received a shocking diagnosis after experiencing severe abdominal cramps. Doctors at the Hai Ha district medical centre, alerted by his complaints, conducted an X-ray and an ultrasound. The scans revealed a foreign object lodged in his abdomen, causing a life-threatening condition called peritonitis, where the abdominal lining becomes inflamed, according to Oddity Central.
Emergency surgery was performed to remove the mystery object. Doctors were astounded to discover a live eel, roughly 30cm long, wriggling inside the man's abdomen. The eel, believed to have entered through his rectum and travelled up his colon, had caused intestinal perforation. Medics carefully removed the eel and the damaged tissue from his intestines, as per the news outlet.
The delicate operation was a success, and the patient, experiencing only mild discomfort after the ordeal, is recovering well under observation. The cause of the eel's presence remains a mystery, though doctors suspect it somehow navigated its way from the man's rectum into his abdomen. The fact that the eel was still alive upon removal further added to the medical team's surprise.
After taking out the eel, the doctors carefully removed the damaged part of the intestines near the bottom. This was risky because it's close to the rectum and could easily get infected. Thankfully, the surgery went well, and the patient got better.
"This is an uncommon case," remarked Dr. Pham Manh Hung to local media. "The rectum is a highly contaminated area, and infections are a major concern. Thankfully, the surgery was successful."
