On March 12, Quang Ngai Provincial Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital said that on March 6, it had received a 12-year-old female patient for examination with pale skin and a hard belly. After examination and assignment of the child to have a blood test, abdominal X-ray and digestive endoscopy, the doctors diagnosed the child with digestive bleeding and abdominal hair.
Immediately after the diagnosis, the patient was prescribed surgery to remove a foreign object in the abdomen by doctors. Doctors removed a hair mass weighing nearly 1kg, covering almost the entire stomach of the child. After surgery, the child was monitored separately in the Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department, and his health was stable.
According to Specialist Doctor I Pham Xuan Duy - Head of Surgery Department - Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital of Quang Ngai province, a child with Rapunzel syndrome is very rare. People with this disease often show signs of eating their own or someone else's hair, causing hair to get stuck in the stomach. About 85 - 95% of people with this disease often have symptoms such as: Abdominal pain, vomiting, gastritis, rapid weight loss, constipation, diarrhea. "People with this disease are treated mainly by surgery, psychological treatment and micronutrient supplementation to prevent hair eating from occurring," Dr. Duy added.
