Doctors have been forced to operate on a 13-year-old child and remove parts of his bowel after he ingested up to 100 magnets.
The case, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal on October 24, described how the child was “admitted to hospital with four days of generalised abdominal pain”.
It added: “He disclosed ingesting approximately 80 to 100 5x2mm high-power (neodymium) magnets about one week prior.”
It’s believed the magnets were purchased from an overseas online marketplace.
Abdominal X-rays revealed the small magnets had linked together to create “four linear chains” situated in “separate parts of bowel adhered together due to magnetic forces”.
Thankfully, there was no bowel obstruction, but doctors performed an exploratory laparotomy, which is a surgical procedure where a surgeon makes an incision in the abdomen.
This revealed pressure necrosis – which is the death of tissue that occurs when prolonged, unrelieved pressure reduces blood flow – after several chains of magnets crushed bowel tissue.
All magnets were successfully removed and the patient was discharged eight days after the operation.
He’s not completely out of the words though, as the medical journal stated: “This [surgery] can lead to further complications later in life, including adhesional bowel obstruction, abdominal hernia, and chronic pain.”
It concluded: “This case highlights not only the dangers of magnet ingestion but also the dangers of the online marketplace for our paediatric population.”
As for why the teenage boy ingested the magnets, the medical journal didn’t offer an explanation, but it stated: “Accessibility to high-power magnets is a rising concern for our [pediatric] population, which may be due to the ability to purchase from online marketplaces at inexpensive prices.”
One possible theory is a dangerous TikTok trend.
In 2021, England’s National Health Service (NHS) reported on a “potentially life-threatening TikTok trend, involving tiny magnets that can be easily swallowed”.
The magnets have been known to be used as “fake facial piercings”, with the NHS stating: “The viral prank sees people place two magnetic balls either side of their tongue and wiggle it around, creating the illusion that their piercing is real.”
Paediatric surgeon Professor Simon Kenny, said: ““There is nothing fun for children or their parents about surgery to remove magnets that have been swallowed and become stuck together through different parts of the intestines, or the long-term physical problems and internal scarring that can be left behind.”
He added: “I would urge parents to be aware of the dangers associated with magnetic toys but ultimately, the only way we can prevent future incidents is to stop these items being sold altogether.”
Swallowing magnets accidentally is extremely dangerous and can even be deadly, so it is advised to keep small magnets out of the reach of children.