Chinese boy, 11, swallows gold bar weighing 100 grams, doctors perform emergency operation

In a shocking and chilling incident, an 11-year-old Chinese boy swallowed a 100-gram gold bar while he was playing at his home. The boy from Jiangsu province was rushed to a hospital where he underwent a surgery. Qian warned his parents after he noticed that his abdomen has unnaturally swelled. However, he did not experience any pain or even slight discomfort but seeing a strange bloating in the stomach, Qian's parents immediately took him to the Suzhou University Affiliated Children’s Hospital. In a report by the South China Morning Post, after conducting an X-Ray, doctors found out a heavy metallic object inside the boy’s intestines. After complete surgery, the doctors were confirmed that the object was actually a solid gold bar  which weighed around 100 grams.

The doctors at first gave the boy medicines to avoid surgery as much as could be possible. They thought that medicines might help the gold bar to pass through the digestive system comfortably. But two days after when another scan was done on the abdomen, the doctors found that the gold bar was still in the stomach. This alerted the doctors who were then concerned about a possible intestinal blockage or internal damage.

Considering a possible risk, doctors deemed it fit to perform an endoscopic surgery in order to take out the gold bar. Two surgeons operated on the boy which took 30 minutes. The operation went successful and the doctors took out the gold bar safely from the child's body. Qian was normal after the surgery and continued his regular diet. The doctors gave further relief to the child's parents by revealing that the gold bar did not cause any long-term damage to his digestive system or any other part of the body. He was discharged from the hospital shortly afterward.

Similar incidents have earlier happened in China. A four-year-old boy was reported to have consumed  a bracelet made up of 18 magnetic beads in 2023. The doctors thought that the boy is suffering from appendicitis, but later when an 
ultrasound was done, they found the beads were trapped in his abdominal cavity.