Team of Doctors at Noble Hospital remove magnetic bracelet from stomach of a four-year-old

The parents, working professionals from Kharadi of the child, had taken her to a local clinic *after their child had started coughing. With an X-ray they were sitting next to a patient who referred them to the clinic of Dr. Pramod Katare.

Explaining the case, Dr. Pramod Katare, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Hepatologist and GI Endoscopist at Noble Hospitals and Research Centre said that X ray showed presence of foreign object in the stomach. The parents were unaware when the girl had swallowed the object. Seeing the gravity of the situation, I asked the parents to come to Noble Hospital immediately.

In such situations, we try to remove the foreign objects through endoscopy. But when we did the endoscopy, we found that the circular bracelet was intact due to the magnet, but half of it was in the stomach and puncturing the stomach wall the other half had come outside the stomach. Removing the object with endoscopy was not possible due to the position of the bracelet, it had punctured the stomach and was behind one of the major blood vessels and had punctured the small intestine at two locations and one puncture in the mesentery part of the stomach. We therefore took a decision to go for an open surgery.

A CT Scan was done which pointed to the complex position of the bracelet. Dr. Pranav Jadhav, Senior Paediatric & Neonatal surgeon at Noble Hospitals and Research Centre said that therefore we conducted laparotomy procedure in which incisions are made in the abdominal wall to open the stomach. The bracelet with multiple magnets had perforated the stomach and small intestine. The bracelet was extremely near to a major blood vessel on one side, so delay in treatment could have posed a risk to the vessel. Also, since the stomach and small intestine were punctured in three areas, the food waste if it comes out and spreads in the body can pose a greater risk to life. In the procedure which lasted two hours, we removed the bracelet and put sutures in the three areas where it was punctured.

The surgery was conducted on 29 December 2025. Post the surgery the child was kept in ICU for observation for a couple of days and then shifted out and discharged in a week .

The parents had come with the child on 15 January for follow up and she was fine and getting back to routine with normal food intake added
Dr. Pranav Jadhav.

Both Dr. Pramod Katare and Dr. Pranav Jadhav said that parents should be especially watchful of children up to six years of age, as young children tend to put objects into their mouths. Items such as magnetic bracelets, coins, button batteries and other small or hazardous objects should always be kept out of their reach to prevent accidental swallowing or choking.