A giant 42cm hairball was removed from a 15-year-old girl’s stomach after she developed an astonishing phenomenon known as Rapunzel syndrome.
Medics were alerted to the emergency when the teen sought help after experiencing several days of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as reported by Need To Know.
It was initially suspected that the girl was suffering from a bout of food poisoning, which other members of her family had experienced a few days earlier.
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But an X-ray soon revealed a large obstruction in her bowel which turned out to be what’s known as a trichobezoar – a hairball formed in the gastrointestinal tract.
The true nature of the mass was only discovered on the operating table, where the teen had to have a complicated procedure to remove the hairball that measured a staggering 42 by 11.2 by 11.7cm and weighed 2,468g.
The massive 42cm hairball removed from her stomach after developing Rapunzel syndrome. (Jam Press/Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports)
Following the careful detachment of the hairball via a laparotomy (surgical incision), medics took care to remove as much residual hair as possible.
At this point, the girl’s physical condition had deteriorated into a state of hypothermia and she was showing signs of coagulopathy – a condition that makes it difficult for blood to clot.
Thankfully, she returned to a stable condition after the hairball was removed.
After the surgery, her parents told medics that the teen had previously exhibited signs of struggling with hair-pulling and chewing behaviours, which began at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The massive 42cm hairball removed from her stomach after developing Rapunzel syndrome. (Jam Press/Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports)
According to medical literature, this is the typical cause of Rapunzel syndrome, which is extremely rare.
While the girl’s parents said that they never specifically saw her eat her hair, they did notice that one side was shorter than the other.
When questioned, she claimed that she had simply cut it that way.
The case report, recently published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, noted that there were in fact two hairballs in the girl’s stomach, the smaller of which measured 10 by 3.8 by 3.5cm.
Following the removal, the teen required further washing out of her gastrointestinal tract.
While inpatient psychiatric treatment was recommended, her family chose to give her support with her mental health at home.
