A person in Singapore complained of vomiting for last several days when he visited a hospital. When the doctors ran tests on him, they found a whole octopus stuck in his oesophagus or the food pipe.
He had started throwing up immediately after eating a meal that included, you guessed it right, an Octopus.
Several leading medical journals covered this incident that occurred in 2018. The 55-year-old man, whose identity wasn’t revealed in any journal, visited the Tan Tock Seng hospital with acute onset of dysphagia, a condition that marks the inability to swallow any solid or liquid food, according to the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology journal.
“A computed tomography scan was performed revealing esophageal dilation with obstruction by a hyperdense mass,” the journal said in its study of the case.
Computed Tomography scan is the full-form of CT scan, a more common name. This is basically a process in which a computer controls the motion of the X-ray source and detectors, processes the data, and produces the image. ‘Esophageal dilation’ means that the oesophagus or food pipe had swollen.
An esophagogastroduodenoscopy – a gastrointestinal examination involving a small, flexible tube – later revealed the octopus lodged 5 cm from the cardioesophageal junction – the oesophagus-stomach border.
The journal said that an esophagogastroduodenoscopy was conducted that revealed that the octopus “was lodged at the distal esophagus 5 cm from the cardioesophageal junction”.
“Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is a diagnostic endoscopic procedure used to visualize the oropharynx, esophagus, stomach, and proximal duodenum,” according to United States’ National Library of Medicine. It basically means that doctors push a tube with camera fitted on top down a patient’s food pipe.
Distal esophagus is the area of the food pipe just above the the stomach. So, the camera found that octopus just 5 cm from the stomach of the man.
“Initial attempts at extracting or pushing of the food bolus (octopus) were unsuccessful,” as per the case study.
After much maneuvering, a medical scope was pushed carefully past the octopus into the stomach and “retroflexed” (turned backwards).
Forceps were used by doctors to grasp the octopus’ head. They then gently pulled the eight-legged sea creature out of the patient’s body. The man was discharged two days after the procedure after recovered well.
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