Doctors remove toothbrush lodged in stomach for a month, without surgery

SHILLONG: Doctors in Meghalaya accomplished a rare feat by removing a toothbrush from a 50-year-old woman's stomach which remained n there for a month endoscopically without carrying out any surgery.

A variety of swallowed objects can become lodged in the stomach or intestines. Some foreign bodies cause obstruction or perforation. Diagnosis is made by imaging or endoscopy. Some foreign bodies can be removed endoscopically. Of the foreign bodies that reach the stomach, 80 to 90% pass spontaneously through the GI tract, 10 to 20% require nonoperative intervention, and ≤ 1% require surgery. Thus, conservative management is appropriate for most blunt objects in asymptomatic patients. However, objects > 6 cm in length or objects > 2.5 cm in diameter rarely pass through the stomach

According to history,the woman, a resident of Lower Mawprem, swallowed the toothbrush while cleaning her teeth last month but faced no discomfort after it. On her daughter's insistence, she decided to consult a doctor.

"It is the first such case in Shillong. It was quite surprising for all of us here. She was perfectly fine after the removal of the brush," Dr Isaac Syiem from Shillong Civil Hospital told news agency ANI.

He said that they used an endoscope and successfully pulled the brush out through her mouth.

"No surgery was needed in the process. She was discharged from the hospital after half an hour," he said.

The situation could have turned worse if she was not brought to the hospital in time, the doctor added.