Doctors Remove Knife, 8 Spoons, Screwdrivers, Toothbrushes From Man’s Stomach

A man in India was rushed into surgery after doctors discovered practically a whole utensil drawer’s worth of items in his stomach — and a knife, which was beginning to puncture his insides.

Karan Sen, 35, had swallowed everything from two screwdrivers and two toothbrushes to eight spoons and a kitchen knife, the Hindustan Times reports.

Sen is believed to have a psychiatric disorder which compels a person to eat non-edible items, according to the Daily Mail. The disorder, Pica, more commonly involves ingesting things like hair, dirt, and paint chips, though doctors didn’t say whether the man had been officially diagnosed.

“It took nearly four hours for the team of surgeons to operate upon Karan,“ says Dr. Rajneesh Pathania, of Lal Bhadur Shastri Medical College. “He is out of danger now.”

Sen arrived to the hospital in serious pain, but appeared to be unaware of the items in his stomach. X-rays showed the spoons and the knife, which they said was “protruding from inside his stomach.”

Surgeons immediately began the operation “without wasting any time but discovered more objects inside,” including a metal bar and a door latch. Sen is in recovery now and in the care of his family.

The gruesome discovery wasn’t the first time dangerous objects had to be surgically removed. In 2017, doctors removed 100 pieces of metal from a man’s stomach, including knives, nails and screws.

The 52-year-old man had a form of chronic psychosis, which resulted in a tendency to swallow metal objects.