Woman’s Throat Tumour Turns Out to Be Two-Inch Leech Living Inside for 3 Months

It started normally enough. A 63-year-old Vietnamese woman had went to the hospital complaining about splitting week-long headaches, test scans that showed what looked like tumours which resulted in a standard tumour removal surgery being scheduled.

When she came into the operating theatre for the procedure, surgeons were not prepared to find a surprise guest lurking inside her throat. Apparently, there was a fat, two-inch leech jammed in one of her throat sinuses. Say what?

Source: New Straits Times

A video of the incident shows the woman on the operating theatre, with clamps and tubes going in her mouth, as doctors gestured and pointed down her throat. Reaching in steadily with clamps, a surgeon grabs hold of the bloodsucker. The leech, sensing the invasion, latches on for dear life and for a brief moment, a strange game of tug-of-war breaks out on the operating table.

The surgeon finally pulls the not-so-little sucker out and puts the angry creature down where we get to see it clearly, twisting angrily on the surgeon’s tray.

Source: New Straits Times

It is believed that the leech got in the woman’s throat when she bathed in spring water, according to NST. The doctors estimate that the leech had been feeding off her for 3 months. 

No updates on whether the woman found the news hard to swallow. After all, this is not the first time leeches have made headlines in Vietnam.

Source: New Straits Times

Yikes! What a scary situation! We hope the lady is feeling a lot better now and wish her a speedy recovery. What do you feel about the video? Let us know in the comments!

Also read: These Doctors Treated a Man’s Alcohol Poisoning with 15 Cans of Beer & It Worked!