NEW DELHI, OCT 25 – Doctors at a hospital in New Delhi, India, were surprised to find a 3-centimeter (cm) cockroach living in the small intestine of a patient who complained of stomach pain and indigestion.
A 23-year-old man recently came to Fortis Hospital, Vasal Kunj, to complain of stomach problems that he had been experiencing for three days. He complained of severe abdominal pain and difficulty in digesting food resulting in frequent flatulence.
According to reports Oddity Centralthe man had taken street food at the night market a few days earlier and suspected it to be the cause of his health problems.
The doctor decided that the best course of action was to perform an Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy, a procedure that examines the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract, to determine the cause of the man’s symptoms.
What they didn’t expect to find was a live cockroach inside the man’s small intestine.
“Since the last two or three days, the patient has had indigestion and bloating after eating. During a routine inspection we happened to spot the cockroach,” Dr Shubham Vatsya told the press Indian Express.
After finding the live insect inside the patient’s body, the team of doctors decided to remove it using an endoscope with two channels one for air and water infusion and the other for air suction.
“We activated the suction button on the scope, managed to suck the cockroach into the suction channel, removed it from the body and saved the man’s life,” explained Dr Vatsya, adding that failure to remove the insect as soon as possible can lead to serious complications, including infectious diseases.
As for how the 3cm cockroach ended up in the poor man’s gut, an Indian gastroenterologist speculated that it might have crawled down his throat while he was sleeping, or that the man accidentally swallowed it while visiting a night market.- Agency
