Doctors have discovered in a patient being treated for lung cancer, a small 1 cm toy nestled in his bronchial tubes.
Some keep their children’s toys in a safe in the cellar, others always have them with them, even in them. A 47-year-old Briton, Paul Baxter, lived for 40 years with a Playmobil toy in his lungs. This orange work cone was discovered by accident while the man was being treated for cancer, report doctors from Wythenshawe and Royal Preston hospitals in the Bristish medical journal.
The postman had complained for a year of a persistent cough accompanied by unpleasant secretions. He thought he was suffering from a simple cold that dragged on, in particular because of his tobacco consumption. But a CT scan revealed a large mass in one of his lungs. Doctors then performed a bronchoscopy to take a biopsy and check if it was cancer.
A “hilarious” discovery
This exam involves inserting a small camera into the trachea to examine the lungs and bronchi. What was their surprise when they discovered the Playmobil toy nestled in their patient’s bronchial tubes. “The doctors and nurses laughed, I too found it totally hilarious,” Paul Baxter told the BBC.
It was only after extracting the 1cm cone that the 47-year-old remembered swallowing it at the age of 7. “I did like all the other children. I often ate my toys, ”he said.
However, he could not believe that his toy could have stayed there for so long when he had increased hospital stays. “I had pneumonia when I was 18 and no one saw anything then. I was also hospitalized in 2004 for a brain abscess and I had MRI scans, but again, this was not spotted, ”the postman described to the British media.
His lungs got used to
In their article, the doctors write that this is most certainly a unique case. They believe that the patient may have lived so long with this foreign object in the bronchial tubes because he swallowed it very young. His body would have become accustomed to his presence and his bronchi would have developed around it.
Four months after removing the small plastic cone, Paul Baxter is in good health. Her cough almost disappeared and the other symptoms improved. “I think I will keep it all my life and give it to my grandchildren,” he said, stressing that he will watch them closely. They shouldn’t take their grandfather’s example …
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