A young man in China, who swallowed a plastic whistle when he was 9 years old and as a result made shrill sounds while sleeping for last 15 years, has finally undergone a successful operation to remove the object.
Doctors at a hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan province, operated on 23-year-old Liu Yougang earlier this week and removed the whistle after a half-hour surgery.
Liu swallowed the whistle in 1999 but the doctor did not find it in his body, 'Global Times' reported.
Liu had difficulty breathing in the past 15 years and made shrill whistle sounds after falling asleep at night. He also coughed continuously all year round.
Zhu Hui, a doctor at West China Hospital examined Liu last month and discovered a foreign object wrapped in granulation tissue in his right lower lobe bronchus.
The whistle had been embedded in the body for many years and had broken down gradually, doctors said.
Liu can now speak and eat normally and has been discharged from the hospital.
