• Doctors in Brazil have been left stunned after a man got a 2kg dumbbell stuck in his rectum.
The 54-year-old man was suffering with stomach pains, nausea and had been unable to pass stool.
Before attending the hospital in Manaus, the man had tried to remove the weight himself – but to no avail.
He waited for two days before seeking medical help – but after having a rectal examination, doctors were unable to find what had been causing the problem.
Medics ordered X-rays and found the piece of gym equipment, which was 20cm long and was lodged where the colon meets the rectum.
Writing in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, the medics said the case had been of a sexual nature.
They explained that with cases like this, people are often less forthcoming about the details of the issue.
Their first attempt to remove the dumbbell resulted in them sedating the man and trying to remove it with surgical tweezers.
They were unable to remove it and had to opt for a manual removal, which meant the surgeon had to put his hand in to fish the object out.
The patient was discharged after spending three days in hospital.
“Retained rectal objects are a rare complaint in the emergency department, but an increasingly important occurrence in recent years”, the experts said.
They explained that it’s a problem that affects both genders but is predominately seen in men.
“A huge variety of rectal objects have been described, with a greater predominance of those of a sexual nature, followed by glass objects, which should be handled with greater care due to their fragility and risk of injury if broken”, the experts said.
In a case such as the man with the lodged dumbbell, medics said physical examination should be the standard procedure.
A rectal extraction should be performed when there is a risk of piercing, they added.