Dr. Avi On, head of the children’s gastro unit at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya, near Tiberias, recently released four little magnets from inside the stomach of seven-year-old Fares Saeed. The child had been playing with his new game of assembling geometric shapes, which uses magnets to set the shapes in place. His father, Geris Saeed, told the emergency room staff: “He told us he swallowed four magnets, we decided not to take a chance.”
According to Dr. On, “Children swallow different foreign objects all the time, but some, including magnets, require special attention. Should a child swallow more than one magnet, it can be dangerous, as they start traveling down the digestive tract and may snap two intestinal segments together. The result can be an intestinal blockage and even a hole in the intestines. We’ve had cases that ended up with a hole and that’s dangerous.”
Little Fares was rushed to the OR, where, according to Dr. On, “Under general anesthesia, using an endoscopic method, we managed to locate the magnets, which were one centimeter each and stuck together, and pull out all four.”
Dr. On cautioned parents “to be alert in case of children swallowing magnets, sharp objects, batteries, or any large object. It is crucial to take them immediately to the emergency room.”