Expat put live eel into anus, gets colon punctured

The eel and the lemon extracted from the patient’s anus. — Photo suckhoedoisong.vn

HÀ NỘI — A 31-year-old Indian national nearly lost his life after inserting a live eel, approximately 65cm long, into his anus.

Việt Đức Hospital in Hà Nội on Monday morning said that the hospital’s doctors successfully performed emergency surgery to save the patient’s life.

On July 27, the emergency department of the hospital received a male patient, 31 years old, an Indian national, who arrived in a state of severe abdominal pain. Upon obtaining the patient’s medical history, it was revealed that at around 12pm on July 27, he had inserted a large eel into his anus.

The patient was immediately examined, underwent imaging, tests and an ultrasound. The X-ray images showed a radiopaque skeleton lying horizontally in the abdominal cavity from left to right.

Lê Nhật Huy, Deputy Director of the Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Surgery Centre at Việt Đức Hospital, stated that the hospital had promptly arranged a team of endoscopy experts and anesthesiologists to perform a colonoscopy in the attempt to remove the foreign object through the anus.

Unable to reach the eel via the anus and with the patient’s pain increasing, the team decided to perform emergency surgery, according to Huy.

Upon opening the abdomen, the doctors discovered a live eel approximately 65cm long and 10cm in circumference in the patient’s abdominal cavity.

“The eel had bitten through the patient’s rectum and colon to escape into the abdominal cavity,” Huy added.

After removing the eel, the doctors also extracted a lemon through the anus. Upon checking for no other foreign objects, the perforation in the rectum and colon was sutured.

However, due to the high contamination of the rectum and the presence of faecal matter in the abdominal cavity, the doctors decided to create a colostomy to prevent faeces from passing through the newly sutured perforation.

According to the doctors, many people, especially young men, have a tendency to seek unusual sensations using sex toys.

Việt Đức Hospital had previously performed surgeries to remove various objects through patients’ anuses, such as wind oil bottles, glass cups and adult toys. However, this is the first case involving a live animal, specifically an eel, being inserted into the rectum and causing perforation.

“Eels can survive in anaerobic conditions for a long time and have the ability to bite through the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, people should never insert live animals through the anus to seek intense sensations due to the unforeseeable consequences,” Huy warned. — VNS