A handyman was suspected to have cancer after doctors found a mass in his lungs – only to discover it was a toy cone he swallowed as a toddler.
The 47-year-old patient, whose name is unknown, complained of coughing up yellow mucus and feeling unwell for little over a year. He sought help from doctors.
Scans showed a mass in his lungs, which consultants assumed was a sign of cancer due to him having smoked for three decades. They urgently referred him to hospital.
During a procedure to inspect his airway, medics discovered the mass to be a traffic cone from a Playmobil set, which the British man ingested 40 years ago.
Doctors writing in BMJ Case Reports have dubbed him a medical mystery, due to the length of time that passed without him displaying any symptoms.
A handyman was suspected to have cancer after doctors found a mass in his lungs – only for them to discover it was a toy cone (pictured next to a syringe for size comparison) he swallowed around 40 years ago
The 47-year-old patient, whose name is unknown, complained of coughing up yellow mucus and feeling unwell for little over a year. He sought help from doctors. Scans showed a mass in his lungs, which consultants assumed was cancer due to him having smoked for three decades
They wrote: ‘To our knowledge this is the first reported case of a tracheobronchial foreign body that was overlooked for 40 years.’
The bronchoscopy was performed at the Royal Preston Hospital after the patient was referred due to concerns the lump was a sign of bronchogenic carcinoma.
Soon after having the procedure, the patient revealed he regularly played with and even swallowed pieces of Playmobil growing up.
He remembered being given this specific Playmobil set as a present on his seventh birthday, doctors reported.
How did it not cause symptoms?
Experts said it’s likely he went symptomless for so long because of how young he was when he swallowed the toy cone.
They suggested that as he grew older, his airways moulded and adapted round the presence of the foreign body.
Four months after removal of the tiny traffic cone, his symptoms had lessened, the doctors revealed.
They added: ‘He finally found his long lost Playmobil traffic cone in the very last place he would look.’
A similar case earlier this week
It comes just days after it was reported a Russian woman spent two decades living with a 12-inch tube embedded in her stomach after an alleged surgical blunder.
The unidentified patient, 50, had the rubber tube put in after suffering a stroke in 2000. It was designed to keep her fed in intensive care.
But, local reports suggest that doctors forgot to remove one part of the tubing near her stomach. Somehow, it caused no symptoms.