Advertisement
Doctors in China find unique strategy to break up huge gastric stone in young girl: drink cola
- The gastric stone was caused by an overconsumption of dried persimmons, which can harden in the stomach
- The cola was necessary to allow the doctors to break up the stone before removing it
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
It is not often that somebody can claim a medical emergency was turned around by a can of cola, but this appears to be the case for a four-year-old girl in Shanghai.
Doctors discovered a goose egg-sized stone in her stomach after being admitted to hospital on February 15 because she was experiencing abdominal pain and was vomiting blood, according to ThePaper.cn.
It turned out the cause of the stone was six dried persimmons she ate on an empty stomach. The stone was causing numerous erosions in her stomach, leading to bleeding. The girl also had an ulcer that was about 1cm in diameter.
Advertisement
The stone was over 4cm in length and proved too large and hard to dislodge when doctors tried to remove the object with a stone basket, a long thin tool with a metal “net” on the end. The gastronomy staff was concerned that a significant surgery would exacerbate the child’s pain.
After reviewing the results and speaking with the girl’s parents about her medical history and recent diet, Professor Huang Ying, director of the hospital’s gastroenterology department, concluded that the foreign body in her stomach was a large gastric stone caused by overconsuming persimmons.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Select Speed
1.00x