Eight years ago, a Chinese man swallowed a metal chopstick during dinner. He chose to keep it stuck in his throat until a surgeon removed it last month, in March 2026.

The “alcoholic” patient, identified only as Mr. Wang, went in for a check-up shortly after swallowing the five-inch utensil in 2018 but refused to have it removed, according to a startling hospital case study published in March.

According to the South China Morning Post, Wang, 46, endured the pain for years because he didn’t want doctors to cut his neck open at the time.

It became increasingly harder for him to swallow several weeks ago, so he asked doctors at Dalian Municipal Central Hospital in Liaoning Province to take a look. 

Surgeons performed a minimally invasive operation to remove the obstructive object via Wang’s mouth instead of slicing open his neck, according to the hospital’s report. 

“He told us a chopstick was trapped in his throat,” said Dr. Huang Weipeng. 

“I thought it happened just now, but he said this was eight years ago.” 

His vocal cords and nearby mucous membrane were luckily not injured and functioned normally after the surgery, according to the report.  

Wang was discharged from the hospital days later and is expected to make a full recovery.