Hanoi (dpa) – A Vietnamese man was in a stable condition after doctors removed a pair of medical scissors that had been inside his abdomen for almost two decades, medical officials said Tuesday.
“The patient is in stable condition today,” said Phi Thuc Oanh, a doctor and deputy director of Cast-Iron and Steel Hospital in Thai
Nguyen province, where the surgery occurred.
“However, I am not sure when he can leave the hospital as it depends on his development in the coming days,” Oanh said, adding the patient
underwent the surgery on Saturday.
The scissors had been in the patient’s abdomen for 18 and a half years, but he never noticed anything abnormal, Tuoi Tre newspaper
reported Tuesday, quoting Luong Ngoc Khue, a doctor and medical official.
Ma Van Nhat, 54, went to hospital last month following a traffic accident.
While Nhat was not seriously injured in the crash, multiple ultrasound tests revealed the scissors, which had come to rest next
to his colon.
The scissors, which had become rusty, might have been left behind during the patient’s last surgery in June 1998, according to reports.
The Ministry of Health has requested an investigation, Tuoi Tre reported.
