Man swallows 39 coins, 37 magnets to boost zinc levels

The patient had come to the hospital with complaints of vomiting and abdominal pain for more than 20 days

Doctors at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital took out 39 coins and 37 magnets from a man’s intestine through surgery. The patient, who was suffering from a psychiatric illness, reportedly swallowed the coins and magnets under the assumption that zinc helps in body-building.

The incident came to light when a 26-year-old patient came to the emergency ward of the hospital with complaints of repeated vomiting and abdominal pain for more than 20 days. The patient was also not able to eat anything.

The patient was first attended by the senior consultant, Dr Tarun Mittal, in the outpatient department. The patient’s relatives said he had been eating coins and magnets for the past few weeks.

The patient was also on treatment for a known case of psychiatric illness.

The patient’s relatives had an X-ray which showed radio-opaque shadows in his abdomen, shaped like coins and magnets. A CT scan of the abdomen showed a huge load of coins and magnets blocking the intestine. The patient was immediately prepared for surgery.

During surgery, it was found that the magnets and coins were present in the small intestine in two different loops. The magnetic effect pulled the two loops together and eroded it. The intestines were opened and the coins and magnets were taken out. Both the loops were rejoined later.

A huge load of coins and magnets were also seen in the man’s stomach, which was opened up to extract the coins, and later repaired. Doctors said a total of 39 coins (Re1, Rs2 and Rs5 coins) and 37 magnets (heart, spherical, star, bullet and triangle shapes) were recovered.

The doctors took an operative X-ray of the patient after the surgery, which showed that all the foreign bodies had been removed. They also said that the patient tolerated the procedure well and was discharged in healthy condition after seven days.

On probing the patient, he said that he had ingested the coins and magnets because he thought that zinc helped in body-building.