Boy Swallows 100g Gold Bar: Surgeons Remove the Unusual Treasure from 11-Year-Old’s Gut

In a bizarre turn of events that shocked both doctors and parents, an 11-year-old boy from Jiangsu province, China, had to undergo emergency surgery after swallowing a 100-gram bar of solid gold. The boy, surnamed Qian, had been home playing when this strange mishap occurred. He complained to his parents that he felt a slight swelling in his abdomen, but he did not complain or feel any discomfort.

Qian's family grew frightened by the swelling and took him for a check-up at the Children's Hospital Affiliated to Suzhou University.

The X-ray shows something heavy and golden.

The medical team quickly performed an X-ray examination, which revealed to their surprise that there was a strange metallic piece inside the boy's intestines. Further scans and examinations astonished the physicians as they were able to find a solid gold bar weighing about 100 grams, a piece of metal the size of a chocolate bar but far deadlier in the human body.

At first, the doctors hoped surgery could be avoided. They gave him medication, with the expectation that the bar would be passed through Qian's digestive system. However, after 48 hours with no movement shown on follow-up scans, the possibility of obstruction or internal injury could no longer be ignored.

Surgery to the Rescue

Two surgeons swiftly prepared for the minimally invasive endoscopic removal. The procedure lasted half an hour and was successful in extracting the gold bar from Qian's intestines. Fortunately, the surgery proceeded without complications, and in the process, no permanent damage was inflicted.

Qian recovered smoothly after the surgery. He returned to a normal diet two days later and was discharged shortly after, with doctors assuring that there was no permanent damage to his digestive tract.

Not an isolated case.

Such cases, though rare, happen. A similar case occurred in 2023, when a Chinese child, four-year-old Chinese child ingested an 18-bead magnetic bracelet. The illness was first mistakenly diagnosed as appendicitis until the X-rays showed beads of the bracelet inside his stomach.

Parental caution urged

Pediatricians stress that parents and guardians must certainly stay vigilant at home. Small, shiny, or magnetic items should be kept out of children's way of children. Although curiosity is part of childhood, the other lesson here is how fast that curiosity can turn into an emergency.

The Gold Bar incident might not have ended in disaster, but it tells the tale about awareness and timely medical intervention.

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Muhammad Faisal Arshad/MSM)