Her breathing was a bit screwy.
Doctors were dumbfounded to discover a screw in an elderly patient’s lung after she reportedly inhaled it following a dental procedure.
The 70-year-old Spanish woman realized something was amiss after experiencing several respiratory infections for no apparent reason, Jam Press reported. She visited the Hospital Vithas Vigo in Pontevedra, where a chest X-ray reportedly revealed the source of her discomfort: A 9-millimeter metal screw lodged in her lung.
Accompanying footage captured via bronchoscope — a flexible tube with a camera — showed the component nestled in her respiratory tissue like a missing part from a cyborg.
According to the case study, the woman, whose name was not disclosed, seemed to have inhaled the metal amid a series of dental treatments that date back nearly a year ago.
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She had initially been outfitted with two replacement bone implants, followed by healing caps. The final implant was placed two months later.
Unfortunately, the senior had no recollection of ingesting the screwy surgery souvenir, which had reportedly been trapped in her respiratory system for at least eight months.
Thankfully, doctors were able to remove the foreign body from her body in just a few hours with forceps.
The woman was subsequently discharged and appeared to be recovering well, Jam Press noted.
This isn’t the first time somebody seemingly screwed themselves by getting an object stuck in their lungs. In September, a piercing addict who reportedly lost his nose ring was horrified to discover it had been inside his lung for five years.