A 47-year-old British man from Preston, England, who will remain anonymous, has been reunited with a long-lost Playmobil toy he ingested as a child, 40 years ago. The man’s doctor thought he had pneumonia because he was a long-term smoker.
He went to doctor with symptoms of a year-long cough and yellow mucus. Doctors performed a bronchoscopy, a procedure that involves a scope threaded down the throat for viewing and diagnosing purposes. It appeared, during the x-ray, that he had a mass, and doctors suggested it may be cancer.
Doctors took him in for surgery where they discovered, not a tumor, but a plastic toy cone from a Playmobil set. The toy is about one cm in length, and it was removed from the lining of the man’s lung.
The British man told doctors, following the procedure, “He regularly played with and even swallowed pieces of the Playmobil during his childhood.” Doctors stated, “He recalled being given this toy set for his seventh birthday and believes he aspirated the toy traffic cone soon after.”
Doctors added that during his childhood, the object may have been absorbed into the lining of the lung, which developed around the toy. Now, the man’s diagnosis was determined to be tracheobronchial foreign body aspiration (TFB).
This case was admitted into the British Medical Journal case reports titled, “Man’s Medical Odyssey” because of the unique nature of his medical problem.
Therefore, our patient is unique in enduring a TFB for more than 40 years and because this event occurred when he was only 7 years old.
The previous instances, included a child and three adult cases where an object remained inside the body for more than 20 years. Aspiration of small objects occurs more often with children, than adults and when it happens it is usually detected within a week.
The British man was surprised that he would find his lost Playmobil toy in his body 40 years later. Four months later, the patient’s cough has nearly subsided and other symptoms have cleared or improved.
Written by Nicole Thompson
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Sources:
BMJ: Man who thought he had lung cancer finds lump was a toy traffic cone
CBS: Man’s suspected cancer tumor turns out to be toy he inhaled 40 years ago
NYDailyNews: Cancer patient discovers ‘tumor’ was not a tumor at all
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