Man’s Bizarre Hospital Visit: Doctors Remove Octopus from His Oesophagus

As carnivorous creatures, humans often eat things we would rather not. This can include insects, fish bones, and even whole animals like chicken feet. Usually, swallowing these morsels doesn’t cause any problems. But every once in a while, it does. That’s what happened to a man in Singapore. The unnamed patient realized something was wrong when he started throwing up following a meal that included live octopus, according to an article published in Clinical Gastroenterology.

The man went to a local hospital, and doctors performed a CT scan on his throat to investigate the matter. The scan showed that the octopus had gotten stuck in his esophagus or food pipe, which was swollen with a hyperdense mass. The octopus was still full of suckers and was lodged 5 cm away from the gastroesophageal junction, where the esophagus meets the stomach.

Doctors tried to dislodge the octopus by pushing it down his throat with an endoscope, but they were unsuccessful. They later used forceps to grasp the tentacles and gently pulled them out of his body. The man quickly recovered from the procedure and was discharged a few days later.

The incident is not the first of its kind. Earlier in 2016, a two-year-old boy in Wichita, Kansas, was hospitalized after he swallowed a live octopus that got stuck in his throat.

Octopuses have been seen as a culinary delicacy in many parts of the world, including South Korea, where the trend is picking up speed. Unfortunately, the eight-limbed sea creature can be deadly if eaten alive, as the suckers stick to the sides of the diner’s throat and cause choking. This risk is heightened if the tentacles are cut longer, or the octopus is eaten whole as part of soju-inspired stints.

Doctors at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where the Singaporean man was treated, said that food blockages were among the most common ENT emergencies they encountered. They noted that food bolus problems resolve spontaneously in 80% to 90% of cases, while endoscopic treatment is required in between 10% and 20% of patients, and less than 1% require surgery. They also warned that excessive force could result in esophageal perforation.