An unusual case occurred in Singapore: doctors had to remove an octopus from the esophagus of a patient who complained of severe nausea and vomiting.
A 55-year-old man sought help after eating a seafood dish, including octopus, according to the Daily Mail. Almost immediately after he ate this dish, he began to vomit and swallowing became extremely difficult.
The doctors decided to perform an X-ray examination of the patient’s esophagus and discovered a startling fact: the octopus was stuck just five centimeters from the gastroesophageal sphincter, that is, the junction of the stomach with the esophagus. In this situation, urgent medical attention was required.
Credit: Jam Press/AGA Institute
The specialists decided to perform a gastroscopy and try to either push or extract the octopus with an endoscope. Unfortunately, all attempts were unsuccessful.
The mollusk resisted, and its extraction proved impossible. But the doctors didn’t give up.
After several futile attempts, the doctors decided to pass the endoscope past the octopus, and then pick it up from the back.
It was a difficult and risky maneuver, but the doctors decided to go for it. They grabbed the head of the octopus with tongs and slowly but carefully pulled it out of the esophagus.
To everyone’s surprise, the patient recovered very quickly after the procedure. Within two days, his condition stabilized and the doctors released him from the hospital.
