A man nearly lost his life and suffered a torn stomach after he ate a plant pot’s worth of expandable foam.
The 45-year-old, who was not named, was rushed to surgery in South Korea with severe stomach pain after ‘intentionally’ eating the foam.
Doctors quickly removed the substance — commonly used to seal cracks in buildings and in arts and crafts projects — finding it had molded to the shape of his stomach and food pipe.
The material was found to have pierced through the sensitive stomach lining, resulting in agonizing pain which required surgical repair.
The patient was kept in the unit for two weeks after the procedure, before being sent home.
The above image shows the foam extracted from the man, on the left is the imprint of the stomach and lower part of the esophagus on the foam
A US woman called Jennifer has previously admitted to eating foam, saying she has got through as many as eight mattresses within 20 years
Thankfully, he suffered no long-term effects as a result of the foam consumption.
The bizarre case was revealed by doctors at Kyungpook National University in the journal Clinical Toxicology.
In the paper, the physicians suggested the foam had expanded once it was inside the man.
The resulting volume of the substance ‘far exceeded’ the space within the stomach, causing the organ to tear and begin to leak its contents.
Doctors say a stomach tear, or perforation, can be fatal because it can trigger an infection that can quickly lead to sepsis without treatment.
The physicians said: ‘Life-threatening gastric perforation can occur after polyurethane foam ingestion.
‘Clinical toxicologists and emergency physicians need to be aware of the highly expandable nature of this agent.’
Few other details were revealed about the patient, including why the individual may have consumed the foam.
But doctors said this may have been linked to the mental condition pica, which causes people to consume inedible materials with no nutritional benefits.
Roughly one in a hundred people suffer from this condition, estimates suggest, which can be linked to mental health conditions or developmental problems like autism.
Doctors added that when the patient was first admitted to the ER, they performed a laparoscopy — where small incisions are made in the abdomen before a camera is inserted.
The person was estimated to have consumed about 12 inches (200cm3) of foam, equivalent to a plant pot.
Other cases of people eating foam-like materials include an American woman named Jennifer who used to eat a piece of mattress every day.
She told TLC: ‘I like my mattress plain and straight up, no mayonnaise, butter, none of that.
‘The side effects of eating mattresses, gas is really the only one you’d have. It enters my body, it enters my system, and it goes out.’
She said that within 20 years she has already consumed eight mattresses.
