Doctors feared that a student who swallowed a laughing gas cannister whole could die on the operating table if the metal lozenge erupted in his stomach.
John Finnson* was the talk of the party when he necked a shiny silver laughing gas cannister for a bet, until a fearful friend suggested his health may be at risk.
The 22-year-old headed to A&E where baffled doctors struggled to work out what would happen in the medically unprecedented case.
The only case study they could find was buried in the annals of bovine medicine and left them fearful compressed gas could tear out his innards.
The call went out for a trachea specialist who rushed in to perform an emergency procedure on the young man.
Mercifully the consultant managed to fish the highly corroded cannister out of a pool of acid in Mr Finnson’s stomach without triggering a deadly blast.
“When the doctors were consulting they were concerned it would suddenly explode,” Mr Finnson explained.
