An 11-year-old in Kazakhstan is on the mend after surgeons removed a
hairball that filled her stomach and extended more than 13 inches from
the organ.
Central European News (CEN) reported that the girl,
whose name CEN did not disclose, suffers from Rapunzel syndrome.
The
condition is marked by the ingestion of a non-absorbable food or fiber,
which then forms an abdominal mass called a bezoar, according to the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). Most bezoars in children are
trichobezoars— a hallmark characteristic of Rapunzel syndrome— which
extend from the stomach to the small intestine or beyond.
According to the NIH, bezoars from Rapunzel syndrome usually result from consumption of hair from the head, dolls or brushes.
In this current case, the 11-year-old, from Taraz, in
southern Kazakhstan, consumed so much hair from her own head that the
mass filled nearly 7 inches of her stomach and continued about 14 inches
into her bowel.
Her parents told CEN that they often noticed her chewing on her long hair but that they didn’t know the habit was harmful.
They took her to the doctor after she began suffering
from a severe stomachache, losing her appetite and not being able to
drink water.
Doctors removed the hairball, and they expect she will be able to resume eating and drinking, CEN reported.
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