Beer Pumped Into Man's Stomach To Cure Alcohol Poisoning

A man, who had 15 cans of beer pumped into his stomach to prevent him from dying of alcohol poisoning in Vietnam, was discharged from hospital Monday, three weeks after he was admitted.

Doctors saved the life of 48-year-old Nguyen Van Nhat by transfusing five liters of beer into his body after he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition with a blood alcohol level of 1,119 times more than the appropriate limit.

The man had passed out after a Christmas party in December. His condition became life-threatening by the time he was taken to hospital. He was diagnosed with severe alcohol poisoning, caused by drinking impure alcohol at the party.

Le Van Lam, head of the hospital’s intensive care unit said they immediately administered three beer cans to the patient in order to slow his liver’s processing of methanol. He was then given one can every hour and after 15 cans, the patient regained complete consciousness, Metro reported.

The doctor said using beer to save alcohol-poisoned patients is unheard of. He further explained that alcohol has two variants - ethanol and methanol- and human liver breaks down ethanol as a priority while methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde which in turn produces a toxic chemical compound.

Since beer contains ethanol, giving it to a person suffering from methanol-poisoning would help stop the body from breaking down methanol. This gave doctors enough time to perform dialysis on the patient and remove maining alcohol from the body. The doctors are now looking into this mode of treatment to check if it can fit into medical standards.

Tran Van Thanh, director of Quang Tri’s health department, said, “Even if it does not conform to any medical standard, this method should be scientifically studied if it has been proven effective in practice.”

Calling this an unusual way of treating, Hans-Jörg Busch, from the University hospital of Freiburg, Germany, said, "The therapy with 15 cans of beer is rather unusual, but well understood. May be the Vietnamese colleagues had no other alcohol on hand. Much more important (than the kind of alcohol used) is that the therapy is immediately initiated,” German Press Agency Der Spiegel reported.

According to Drink Aware, alcohol poisoning can have lethal consequences which includes slowing down brain functions and lowering the body’s temperature and blood sugar levels. Primary symptoms include confusion, vomiting, seizures, loss of coordination and passing out. People with these symptoms shouldn’t be allowed to sleep, given coffee or cold shower.