Surgeries save toddlers’ lives after swallowing multiple magnets

TDT | Manama

A medical team at Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital succeeded in saving the lives of two toddlers, after extracting magnets ranging between five millimeters and three centimeters in size that they had swallowed while playing.

This led to openings in the walls of the stomach and intestine, which resulted in severe pain in the abdomen, blockage and twisting of the intestine, high temperatures, and nausea, posing a serious threat to their lives.

The medical team was headed by general surgery and children’s urology specialist Captain Dr. Abdulrahman Ebrahim Al Shafei, and it included a number of general surgery and anesthesia doctors at BDF Hospital.

The first toddler, who was 10 months old, came to the emergency department for a different reason, but during an X-ray procedure, two pieces of magnets connected to his gut were discovered, which led to twisting and perforating the intestine.

The procedure to remove them lasted about two hours and the child was kept under constant care and monitoring for 10 days. He was discharged in stable condition. The second patient, who is three years old had swallowed a number of magnetic pieces, which turned out to be 51 after completing their extraction.

The operation lasted about three-and-a-half hours, with Dr. Al Shafei repairing multiple holes in the stomach and intestines. The child left the hospital after seven days after his condition stabilized and once he recovered.