A doctor at the Đồng Nai Children’s Hospital checks on a child after surgery to remove 24 magnets he had swallowed. — VNA/VNS Photo

ĐỒNG NAI — The Đồng Nai Children’s Hospital has successfully treated a 32-month-old boy who suffered severe bowel perforation after swallowing 24 magnets. 

The child is now in stable condition and expected to be discharged within two days.

According to the hospital, the child from Phú Vinh Commune was admitted on December 27 with abdominal pain, two days of fever, four days of constipation, and signs of dehydration.

His family said he had been taken to a private clinic, where he was diagnosed with bowel inflammation and a gastrointestinal infection and given medication, but his condition worsened after two days.

Doctors at the hospital found upon examination however that the child’s intestines were severely swollen and there was a foreign object in the digestive tract.

They diagnosed severe peritonitis caused by bowel perforation and decided on emergency surgery.

During the operation, they found a 5-cm cluster of 24 small magnets, commonly found in children’s toys, inside his intestine.

The magnets had caused eight holes in the small intestine, the largest measuring about 5mm, allowing digestive fluids to leak into the abdomen and causing severe peritonitis.

The three-hour surgery was successfully conducted.

Dr Lư Quí Trang of the hospital’s general surgery department called it the most serious case of ingestion of foreign objects the hospital has ever treated.

If the magnets had not been removed in time, their alkaline properties would have continued to damage the intestines, causing further perforations and serious infection, she said.

She warned about toys containing magnets or small batteries, saying the risk of kids swallowing them is high.

Parents should choose safe toys, supervise young children and take them to a medical facility immediately if a foreign object is swallowed, she added. — VNS