A young boy had a metal spring removed from his lung, after it was stuck there for a staggering three months.
The five-year-old, from Paraguay, had been suffering from a persistent cough since December before his parents decided to take him to the doctors.
While carrying out extensive checks to look for a potential cause, medics were stunned to find a metal object in his left lung showing up on an
.
The unnamed boy was first treated at the Hospital Regional De Villarrica, and was later transferred to the National Institute of Respiratory and Environmental Diseases for urgent treatment.
The youngster is now said to be in a stable condition after medics successfully removed the spring on March 8.
Dr Carlos Morinigo said the procedure was complicated due to the time the foreign object had been lodged in the boy’s lung, as well as the damage it had caused during that period.
However, despite causing a “probable decrease” in the lung’s capacity, Dr Morinigo said it will likely improve as the lad grows over time.
The INERAM doctor posted images of the boy’s procedure on social media with the message: “Three months of coughing.
"Never been taken to the doctor before. Poor little thing."
He also reminded parents to take extra care around young children, adding that they should always take them to see a doctor if they developed a persistent problem.
Earlier this month, a 17-year-old girl had a pellet removed from her skull after being shot on her way to a gym class in Tías, Lanzarote, Spain.
At the clinic, the attending physician noticed two puncture wounds in the patient’s head and a suspected foreign object embedded in one of them.
After x-ray and CT scans confirmed the presence of the foreign object and the extent of the injury, doctors successfully removed the item without incident.
The foreign object was described as a “projectile from a compressed air weapon” and was handed over to officers of the Tías Local Police.
And two years ago, it was reported that a four-year-old girl from Somerset, in the UK, swallowed a £1 coin which stayed inside her for more than a year.
After she swallowed the coin, her parents instantly rushed her in for an Xxray - but there were more surprises to come.
The x-ray showed two coins piled on top of each other in her throat, and the doctors said it looked like she had swallowed the earlier coin over a year ago.
Her mum said at the time: "She had a three-hour surgery to take it out as they wanted to get it out without cutting her oesophagus even more.
"They reckon it had been in there for over a year, it's crazy."
