Beware of chicken wings at your Labor Day barbecue.
A man had to undergo life-saving surgery after a piece of bone passed through his appendix and caused internal bleeding.
The 77-year-old Tunisian man went to the doctor complaining of a dull pain in his stomach.
He had no fever, changes in bowel habits or abnormal heart rhythm, leading doctors to suspect he had a mass in his intestine.
But when they gave him a CT scan, they found a two-centimeter-long piece of bone – about the width of three number two pencils – protruding from his appendix, creating an infection that could have killed him.
The bone, seen here as the dense white line in the center of the four thin red lines, was lodged in the patient’s appendix
Humans cannot digest chicken bones, but they are brittle, meaning that if swallowed, they can break into sharp pieces that can puncture the soft tissues of the gastrointestinal tract.
Doctors had difficulty determining the cause of the problem because the patient did not remember swallowing anything that could have lodged in his abdomen, according to the report published in the journal SAGE Open Medical Case Reports.
They had to open it up to remove the bone.
They removed his appendix, the chicken bone, stitched him up and sent him home after monitoring him for four days.
As the patient was elderly and had no teeth, it is possible that he swallowed the piece without chewing it, so he did not even know what was going to happen, doctors at Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunisia wrote.
At a check-up a year later, doctors confirmed that there had been no lasting side effects from the incident.
Typically, when a person swallows something they shouldn’t have, the body can either push it through or cause it to get stuck in the colon or intestines, where doctors often choose to retrieve it using a long tube called an endoscope.
Objects get stuck in the appendix only about 1 in 2000 times.
Sometimes, people with foreign bodies in their appendix even have symptoms, which could explain why the patient felt only mild discomfort.
In about 11 percent of all cases where an object became stuck in a person’s appendix, people only discovered the object was stuck there when they were already in surgery for another need.
The appendix is a small pouch attached to the end of the intestine and is a bit of a mysterious organ.
Scientists think it might harbor some of the bacteria the gut needs to aid digestion, but it doesn’t seem to have much use.
Some people are even born without an appendix. Some people can live without an appendix without much difference.
This is fortunate, because a ruptured appendix is fairly common, affecting 280,000 Americans each year, according to the American Medical Association.
After removing the 2 cm piece of bone from the patient, doctors had to remove his appendix.
A ruptured appendix occurs when a blockage in the intestines causes bacteria to build up in the appendix and multiply out of control, causing an infection called appendicitis.
Sometimes this infection becomes so severe that the pressure from the bacteria causes the small organ to burst.
If left untreated, a burst appendectomy can turn into a life-threatening infection — leading to sepsis that spreads bacteria through the bloodstream, shutting down major organ systems, according to Johns Hopkins.
The Tunisian patient’s appendix had not burst, but it had been perforated and doctors discovered that the wound was infected and could have put his life in danger.
Chicken is one of the most consumed meats in the world. According to the USDA, the average American eats about 100 pounds of broiler chicken per year.
Humans cannot digest chicken bones, but they are brittle and can shatter when swallowed, forming sharp pieces that can cut into your intestines. That’s why medical authorities advise against swallowing the bones.
The study authors said the case highlights the need for doctors treating patients with unusual symptoms to ask them about any factors that could potentially have contributed to their illness.
The authors said: “This case highlights the need for a high index of suspicion for atypical clinical presentations and the continued need for research to improve our understanding and management of this rare disease, ultimately improving patient outcomes.”