Man's Suspected Lung Tumor Found To Be Playmobil Cone Inhaled During Childhood

A British man was able to breathe a sigh of relief, quite literally, after doctors determined that a suspected lung tumor was actually a Playmobil traffic cone he had inhaled 40 years ago.

According to the BBC, the unnamed 47-year old handyman was referred to doctors at a respiratory clinic in Preston, U.K., where the discovery was made, when he complained of a nagging cough that had lasted for more than a year. He also produced mucus, even after being treated for pneumonia.

The doctors found a mass on the scans after an x-ray was conducted and assumed that it was a tumor because the man was a longtime smoker who had also recently suffered pneumonia.

The Guardian stated that during a bronchoscopy the doctors were shocked to discover the tumor was actually a tiny toy traffic cone the patient had received as part of a gift when he turned 7 years old. The plastic cone which was about 1cm in length was removed with biopsy forceps.

The case was published in the British Medical Journal on Sept. 21 and a report of the same in the Guardian said the handyman told doctors he swallowed pieces of the toys while he played with them during his childhood, following the procedure. The report further said: “He recalled being given this Playmobil set for his seventh birthday and believes he aspirated the toy traffic cone soon after."

Because of the young age of the man, when he inhaled the traffic cone his airway may have been able to remodel and adapt to the presence of a foreign body, the report said. Despite time catching up with the patient, the cone was retrieved whole and still recognizably orange in color.

The patient showed no ill-effects for decades until the persistent cough which caused him to seek medical advice, doctors said.

It was not out of the ordinary for children to ingest or inhale small toys, it said, but "a case in which the onset of symptoms occurs so long after initial aspiration is unheard of."

"Tracheobronchial foreign body (TFB) aspiration is a common occurrence in children compared with adults," the case report said. "Long-standing cases of TFB aspiration during childhood presenting in an adult have rarely been reported." The doctors said the case presented as a suspected bronchogenic carcinoma.

"To our knowledge this is the first case of a TFB that was overlooked this length of time," it added.

Four months after the object was removed, Science Alert reported that the patient's persistent cough had cleared up, and the consolidation of his lung tissue had mostly subsided. However, the report added there was some permanent enlargement of the airways. It also said the enlargement occurred in about 20 percent of patients with a chronic foreign body in their lungs.

"On a positive note," the doctors wrote, "his symptoms improved markedly and he finally found his long-lost Playmobil traffic cone in the very last place he would look."