Capital Children's Medical Center treats 5-year-old who swallowed 50g gold bar

Medical professionals at Capital Children's Medical Center in Beijing successfully performed an emergency endoscopic procedure to remove a 50-gram gold bar from the stomach of a 5-year-old girl. The child had accidentally swallowed the object, which was approximately 4 centimeters long, while playing at home.

The gold bar remained in the child's stomach for six hours, posing severe risks including gastrointestinal perforation, heavy bleeding, and intestinal obstruction due to its weight and hardness. Doctors utilized a snare device under general anesthesia to carefully extract the heavy metal object through the physiological channel.

Medical experts are using this incident to warn parents against using unscientific home remedies such as swallowing rice balls, drinking vinegar, or forced vomiting. Doctors emphasize that these methods can push foreign objects deeper into the digestive tract or cause secondary injuries. In cases of ingestion of sharp, corrosive, or heavy objects, parents are advised to withhold food and water and seek immediate professional medical treatment at a facility capable of emergency endoscopy.