NANKOKU, JAPAN — A man in Japan ended up in the hospital after swallowing a tiny fish bone.
The 73-year-old was enjoying his meal until he ate a yellowtail fish and felt pain in his lower abdomen.
Citing a study from the New England Journal of Medicine, Live Science reports that the guy went to the emergency room where the doctors performed a physical exam and found tenderness across his lower abdomen. He let the doctors know that he had eaten a yellowtail.
The doctors took a CT scan of the 73-year-old's abdomen. They noticed his small intestine had been punctured by a tiny fish bone.
The man underwent surgery and the doctors successfully removed the part of his intestine that contained the 2-centimeter-long fish bone.
The doctors also prescribed the 73-year-old with antibiotics to avoid infections from having a punctured small intestine.
The man recovered after spending eight days in the hospital, according to the report.
A separate study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology found that less than one percent of ingested fish bones cause a tear to the intestines.
The study also noted that more than 90 percent of fish bones are capable of passing through the intestinal tract without causing much problems.
