Doctors remove ‘half-eaten’ octopus from Singapore man's throat who complained of swallowing difficulties

Doctors at Singapore's Tan Tock Seng Hospital were baffled to discover an octopus stuck inside a patient's oesophagus (or food pipe). The 55-year-old man had complained of difficulty in swallowing from the time he had a meal that included the mollusk.

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The doctors conducted a CT scan, which revealed a super-dense mass in the man’s oesophagus, reported the New York Post. The tentacled octopus was later found lodged two inches from the oesophagus-stomach border during a subsequent esophagogastroduodenoscopy — a gastrointestinal examination involving a small, flexible tube.

After several unsuccessful attempts to remove the octopus from the man's throat, the doctors manoeuvred the endoscope past the animal and retroflexed it, allowing doctors to extract the creature.

The doctors then used forceps to grasp its head and remove it from the patient. He was discharged two days after the surgery.

According to the hospital's doctors, food obstructions are among the most common problems encountered at the facility. Endoscopic intervention is necessary in 10% to 20% of cases, while 1% of them require surgery, they added.

“The ‘push technique’ is the primary method recommended with high success rates, however applying excessive force can cause esophageal perforation,” said the medical team.

In 2016, a similar case came to light when an octopus was found inside the throat of a two-year-old boy in United States' Kansas. A 36-year-old man was arrested in the case on suspicion of child abuse as doctors had also noticed injuries on the boy's face.

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