Surgeons in the United Kingdom have described what they believe is the first documented case of an adult swallowing a massive quantity of water beads and needing surgery to survive it.
The patient, a 60-year-old man, arrived with severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting after ingesting an estimated 25,000 of the colorful superabsorbent polymer spheres sold as sensory toys, craft supplies, and garden products. CT imaging showed a huge volume of them throughout his gastrointestinal tract, plus free fluid around the duodenum that the team attributed to reactive pancreatitis. The case was published in The Surgeon last year.
