Thursday, July 17, 2008

santol alert



When I was a child somebody told me that if I swallowed a seed, deliberately or accidentally, it will grow inside my body and soon leaves and branches will be coming out of my ears, nose and mouth. Scary thought but not true.

This one, however, is true. Swallowing santol seeds can be very, very dangerous to one's health. You see, santol seeds are distinctive in that they have a sharp edge that can literally cut through the intestinal wall.

We had a patient who presented as appendicitis but on opening up what greeted us was a lot of pus, not coming from the appendix, but from a gaping hole in the large intestine. I had posted a nice picture of said intestine here, with hole and all (meaning all the blood and gore) but I decided to take it down, fearing that some readers might find it offensive or stomach turning.

Here instead are the seeds when they were taken away from the intestines already.





Above the two santol seeds is the skin stapler used to put together the edges of the long abdominal wound of the patient.

And finally, to reiterate how dangerous swallowed seeds can be, check these out:





8 comments:

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

hala uy......thanks, presently duna "schienen" ako ngipon, wa nako mausap mayo ang santol, hadlok ko mabuak or maputol akong "schienen" mao wa nako makaon ang santol.

ako agalon, nauli gikan diha, dala siya santol n mangga, gitagaan ko nya, tag-2 ka piraso ra....lipay na kaayo mi ni kim....

ang santol, santol bangkok....lamia tunlon sa liso,
pastilan, mayo ra wa ko kakaon kay basin tunlon nako ang liso sa katam-is....

if you have time, pls visit my site, kita nmo ako mga pasalubong gikan diha.

and also my Mama and sister, ako na post....

cgi dra. nes, gasuroy-suroy ko ron...pahungaw....

diay, ugma ang control or check-up sa akong Mama, after her OP the other tuesday.....

We pray nga unta everything is ok, di na pod, nga dli cya paulion, kay unsa na pod nya.

But we trust to God everything.

sigi, thanks again.

hala taasa ako comments diri uy....novela or history naman ni.

regards

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

thnks for sharing the site about swallowing santol seed,...ako gyd gibasa ang 2 ka site.

remember ko sauna, kataw-an ko nila kay di ko katulon sa seeds.
kay hadlok ko masangit nya sa tilaok,....lol

mora man mi duna contest, kinsa kinadaghanan ug natulon...

diha sauna sa compound sa ABHS, duna dako Bangkok santol tree, or daghan santol dha.

hala kami with some of my co-ofis, magcontesanay lagi ug tulon sa liso, labi na to amo kauban nga mga lalaki, mora ug mga maschine....lol

siawa adtong time uy...nya diay kuyaw man diay to,,,,,mayo na lang way naingon ani.

sorry, nahinayak gyd ko diri uy....

dr_clairebear said...

i read about this... may case din ata kami sa PGH while we were in med school. pero mas naalala ko yung napunta ng ER kasi kumain siya ng "bato: ng balut.

we eat some seriously dangerous foods back home...

bricalz said...

Thanks Doc Ness... The instructions you gave help me get the link to work so thanks to both you and Gaya.

Would have loved to be in that surgery. Hehe.

The boards are coming so close na, and well, we're a bit scared na so I'll try to get more studying done but kapoy pud bya. Hehe.

Thank you. Keep us in your prayers.

ness said...

vicki,
i hope your mom's all right. and don't swallow any more seeds, ok!

clairebear,
oo nga, marami din yang upper airway or esophageal obstruction dahil sa hard part ng balut.

bri,
God bless sa board exam!

the philippine daily idiot said...

did hear of a case before but i never really thought perforation sec to santol seeds is that common.

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

hi dr. ness,

thanks...dli gyd pod ko katulon uy, bisan ako pugson, pro samot na gyd dli na gyd ko mo try ug tulon....lol

thanks, my mama, presently is feeling good...so good, dli gyd, pro happy mi, as what her drs, nga ok ang healing sa iyang samad sa tiil, after the OP...
pero iya sugar mao lagi, taas man kanunay......
plus iya kidney, mao amo pray n hope nga sana dli mas pa mo samot...

Through prayer, Faith n Trust ni Lord, nothing is Impossible.

as what dra. Tess sulti pod.....God didnot give us kung dli nato kaya-......

Praise God

ness said...

meloinks,

perforation is not so common, mabuti na lang. pero pag nabutas ang intestine, grabe pud. the most expensive santol eaten, ever.