SHOCKED surgeons unbelievably found a kilogram of nails, screws, and nuts in a man’s stomach that were up to 4inches long.
The patient in Lithuania had been swallowing metal objects for a month after kicking his booze habit, doctors said.
He was admitted to the Klaipeda University Hospital on the Baltic Sea coast with severe abdominal pain.
An x-ray of his stomach then revealed he had been munching on nails, bolts, nuts, knives, wood screws and other metal objects.
Surgeon Sarunas Dailidenas, who performed the intense three-hour operation on the man of steel, described it as a “unique case”.
He explained the man had damaged the front wall of his stomach by consuming the foreign bodies – that filled an entire surgical tray.
“During the three-hour operation with X-ray control, all foreign bodies, even the smallest ones, in the patient’s stomach were removed,” Mr Dailidenas told LRT.
Medics were tediously tasked with making sure they had fished out the sharp metals by regularly scanning the patient’s stomach.
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The unidentified patient is said to be in a stable condition following the op and is being monitored at KUH.
“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Algirdas Slepavicius, the hospital’s head surgeon told local media.
But the medics made clear foreign bodies in the stomach aren’t exactly a rare commodity for them.
Among other wacky objects patients have swallowed, regulars include sewing needles, pennies, and even spoons.
And he isn’t the only person to swallow something bizarre – as one man lost his voice as his throat began to rot after accidentally swallowing a bleach tablet thinking it was painkillers.
Children also have a track record as serial swallowers – with dozens left needing life-saving surgery after consuming small magnets.
When children swallow magnets, they fuse in their intestines or bowels and squeeze off the blood supply, causing significant damage, health officials have warned.