TTSH doctors share story of finding octopus stuck in Singaporean man’s throat

SINGAPORE: A man who experienced nausea after a meal sought medical assistance at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. To their surprise, doctors found a whole octopus in his throat.

The identity of the 55-year-old man has not been disclosed.

After a dinner wherein he consumed seafood, including octopus, he began vomiting and had a hard time swallowing, which caused him to go to the hospital to get checked.

Doctors performed a CT scan on the man, which showed a thick mass in his esophagus, the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach, the New York Post reported on July 5 (Wednesday).

The man was then given an esophagogastroduodenoscopy, which is a procedure where a small tube is used to perform a gastrointestinal examination.

It showed that the octopus had settled around 5 centimetres away from the border of the man’s esophagus and his stomach.

Unfortunately, the doctors’ first attempts to remove the octopus were unsuccessful. They tried to extract the octopus and push it but to no avail.

The doctors then used an endoscope, an instrument which allows doctors to see a person’s internal parts when put into the body, to manoeuvre the octopus into the stomach.

They then used forceps to take hold of the octopus’ head and extract it from the man’s body.

Fortunately, the man made a quick recovery after the octopus was removed.

Two days later, he was discharged from the hospital.

Although the incident occurred in 2018, it was recently reported in the media, including in the UK’s Daily Mail, as doctors shared the story.

The doctors who performed the procedure said that food blockages are a common problem at TTSH, and 80 to 90 per cent of the time, the problem resolves itself.

For more complex cases, endoscopic management or even surgery may be needed. /TISG

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