Yaxin.com News (reporter Jia Lijuan) - A plate of pilaf and a small bone splinter caused a young man to meet an untimely end. This incident happened right in our midst.
The young man was named Ma Yong, 30 years old, originally from Henan province, who had come to Xinjiang to work. On October 24, Ma Yong ate a plate of meat pilaf. Not long after eating, Ma Yong began to feel a heaviness in his chest, and the next day he developed a fever.
Ma Yong initially thought it was a cold, so he went to a nearby clinic, bought some cold medicine, and received intravenous therapy. After several days of treatment, Ma Yong found that not only had the feeling of chest tightness not improved, but he also started experiencing shortness of breath, coughing up blood, and bloody stools.
On October 30, Ma Yong sought treatment at the Department of Gastroenterology of the General Hospital of the Lanzhou Military Region in Urumqi. During this process, he suddenly went into septic shock.
After detailed examinations, the hospital discovered that the patient had a large amount of fluid accumulated in both pleural cavities, and the mediastinal muscle in the thoracic cavity was significantly widened. There was a substance inside with a density extremely similar to bone.
Considering the critical condition of the patient, the hospital immediately transferred him to the intensive care unit. After a night of emergency treatment, Ma Yong's vital signs gradually stabilized.
"This substance is very likely a bone!" During a hospital-wide consultation, Zhou Xin, deputy director of the hospital's intensive care unit, said that the patient had swallowed a bone while eating, which then pierced the esophagus, leading to severe infection in the thoracic cavity.
"The esophagus is very close to the thoracic aorta, and the patient's continuous coughing up of blood suggests that the bone may have already injured the artery," said Wang Zhonghua, director of the cardiothoracic surgery department. He added that the surgery carried significant risks, but it was the only way for the patient to have any chance of survival.
Despite the patient owing fees prior to the surgery, given the urgency of the patient's condition, the hospital leadership approved the decision to "immediately perform surgery on the patient."
At 9:00 PM on November 1, Ma Yong was wheeled into the operating room. However, upon opening his chest cavity, the doctors discovered that the bone splinter had already penetrated the esophagus into the thoracic cavity and was moving within the cavity as the patient breathed, eventually piercing the thoracic aorta near the esophagus. Blood and food residues had surrounded the bone splinter through the damaged area of the thoracic aorta, forming an arterial aneurysm. Due to erosion by various impurities, the walls of the patient's blood vessels could no longer be sutured...
After nine hours of emergency resuscitation, the patient ultimately passed away.
According to the photos provided by Zhou Xin, the bone extracted from Ma Yong's body was about 2.5 cm long and approximately 4 mm wide. The two ends of the bone were relatively sharp, presenting a flat shape.
"When eating fruits with shells or pits, hard objects, or meat with bones, one must not swallow hastily," Zhou Xin reminded the public. If discomfort in the esophagus is detected, one should promptly seek medical attention at a regular hospital and should not attempt to swallow forcefully with other foods. Otherwise, foreign objects may not only get stuck in the esophagus but also injure the esophagus, leading to infections that can endanger life.
Currently, the patient's family has arrived at the hospital and is in the process of handling related procedures.