Kochi: A 12-centimetre fragment of a pencil that had gone ‘missing’ from a classroom in Canada was surgically removed from the back of the hip of an eight-year-old boy at a hospital in Kochi. The pencil was discovered inside his body when the child was brought to the hospital after he complained of knee pain.

A nurse working in Canada had approached consultant paediatrician Dr Johnny Vakayil Francis at Medical Trust Hospital in Ernakulam, seeking relief for her son’s pain in his right knee. An MRI scan showed no abnormalities in the knee. During the consultation, however, the mother mentioned that the child occasionally experienced pain in the back of the hip region and explained the circumstances that might have led to it.

Four months earlier, while playing at his school in Canada, the boy had playfully tried to sit on another child’s lap but accidentally landed on a pencil the other child was holding. Only one broken piece of the pencil was recovered at the time and, despite a search, the remaining fragment could not be found. The child had sustained a small wound just above the anal region, which healed with medication. Sensing that something was amiss, the doctor advised an X-ray of the pelvis.

The X-ray finally revealed where the missing piece of the pencil had gone. It was lying inside the pelvis, measuring nearly 12 centimetres in length. Despite the presence of the sharp end, it had fortunately not damaged any major blood vessels, said Dr Johnny Vakayil Francis.

Ultrasound and MRI scans were then used to pinpoint its exact location. A team led by senior paediatric surgeon Dr M G Joy soon removed the pencil through surgery. Doctors were astonished that such a large foreign object had remained inside the child’s body for four months without causing any serious health complications.