Doctors of Hangal Sri Kumareshwar Hospital in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district were shocked when they found a total of 187 coins in a 58-year-old man’s stomach.
The doctors were told by the family members of the man that he had swallowed two coins and was continuously vomiting for a few days.
Endoscopy and X-Ray showed a pile of more than 100 coins in the stomach.
The coins were removed and the patient is recovering at the hospital.
Dr SA Kora, the head of the Department of Medicine at the Nijalingappa Medical College and HSK Hospital and Research Centre in Bagalkot, told South First, “The 58-year-old patient, Dyamappa Harijan, is a patient of schizophrenia.”
He added: “His family came to us saying that the patient was complaining of abdomen pain and was vomiting. The initial check and scan showed a huge mass.”
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Shocking diagnosis showed coins
While the initial diagnosis showed that there was some mass or lump, the doctors did not expect to find a pile of coins.
An X-Ray and an endoscopy were done to reconfirm what that mass was.
To the doctor’s surprise, they found a huge pile of coins of at least two-three denominations.
“We performed a gastrotomy surgery, for which we opened the stomach region and found that Dyamappa had swallowed more than 100 coins. He had swallowed the coins over the last two-three months,” said Dr Eshwar Kalaburgi, one of the doctors who performed the surgery.
“The surgery went on for two hours and the complication was to remove those coins carefully,” he explained.
The doctor said that this was the first time in his 40-year career that he had seen a patient who had swallowed so many coins.
“We removed a total of 187 coins. On counting, we found 56 coins of ₹5 denomination, 51 coins of ₹2 denomination, and 80 coins of ₹1 denomination, and it was about 1.5 kg of mass. We had to do this carefully as it can be life-threatening to the patient,” said Kora.
Coins removed; patient in recovery
Dyamappa is now recovering from the surgery. He is still in the hospital, being treated for his psychiatric illness, said the doctors.
Dr Narayan Mutalik, Professor and HoD at the SN Medical College in Bagalkot, and also one of the treating doctors, told South First that Dyamappa needed to be watched continuously and his risk assessment would also be done.
If the patient is found to be high risk to either himself or to others, he will be kept in the hospital for a longer time.
“This kind of behaviour is part of the schizophrenic illness. These people have disorganised behaviours and many times consume such things as part of auditory hallucinations and delusions, where they believe that someone is telling them to swallow things. They may even swallow 15-20 tablets at once, risking their lives,” explained Mutalik.
The doctor explained that such patients would need monitoring on a regular basis.
The patient would have to seek treatment and the psychiatrist will have to initially see them at least twice a week, and have to compulsorily take medications. Ortherwise, there are chances of such events recurring.
“Dyamappa needs to take his psychiatric medicines regularly otherwise he can even now, despite explaining the complication, can swallow coins again.” Mutalik explained.
