A four-year-old boy's tummy pain turned out to be a rather unusual object lodged in his bowels.
Doctors were bewildered when scans revealed the youngster had a magnetic bracelet trapped inside him after complaining of agonising stomach pains, a journal in the US said.
The child had been taken to hospital in an unknown location after suffering for two days of an aching tummy, as well as vomiting and constipation, which doctors initially suspected could be acute appendicitis - even going so far as to remove his appendix.
But after his pain continued, staff carried out scans and were astonished to see an object show up "forming the shape of a bracelet" on his insides, with his parents just as flummoxed.
Incredibly, doctors believe the boy had swallowed each bead separately over "an unknown duration", but because of their magnetic properties they were able to stick together inside forming a loop.
The piece of magnetic jewellery - which are often worn to ease pains - had gone so far as blocking the boy's intestines and even digging holes into his bowels.
Surgeons immediately performed a laparotomy on the child, cutting into his abdomen to remove the 18 hexagonal beads.
Dab-handed surgeons then moved swiftly to repair the damage caused to his bowels.
The unusual finding was reported in medical journal called Journal of Paediatric Surgery Case Reports.
Scientists claim the case was not the first, however - writing that young children ingesting magnetic beads was "a common problem worldwide".
"The metallic taste of a magnetic bead may form the attraction which encourages the child to keep licking the objects and swallowing multiple magnets," journal authors wrote.
According to the researchers, the problem is "increasing worldwide" with the "majority" of cases in children under the age of four.
The boy was allowed home six days after his operation, and a six-month check-up found he had recovered well.
Doctors added: "The ingestion of a single magnet poses no additional risk as long as it is small enough to pass through the gastrointestinal tract.
"However, ingestion of multiple magnets is associated with significant morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents all over the world."
