Amazing and Unbelievable X-rays

What Did She Swallow?

When Margaret Daalman, 52, went to the hospital complaining of stomach pains, routine X-rays were taken to find the cause. Doctors were shocked to find that the Dutch woman's body contained dozens of forks and spoons, reports The Daily Mail.
Go to the next slide to see what doctors found.

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Daalman was quickly rushed into surgery, where doctors painstakingly removed 78 pieces of flatware (pictured, left), one by one. "I don't know why, but I felt an urge to eat the silverware -- I could not help myself," Daalman told doctors, reports The Daily Mail. This was not the first time she was treated for eating silverware, either. Doctors posit that Daalman -- who made a full recovery -- may have suffered from a medical rarity known as pica disease.

People diagnosed with pica have an insatiable urge to eat non-food substances like dirt, paper, glue and clay. While there isn't a definitive reason why this abnormal eating occurs, researchers believe a lack of certain nutrients, such as iron and zinc, can trigger cravings. As a result, people suffering from pica are generally treated for a nutritional deficiency.

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Knife embedded in woman for four months

Four months after being stabbed during a mugging, Ying Shi, 26, went to the doctor complaining of stomach pains. It wasn't until doctors took an x-ray of the Shanghai woman's abdomen that they found the source of the pain: A six-inch knife lodged in her buttocks. The blade was so deeply entrenched that it was pressing into her bladder. Apparently, the knife had initially been overlooked when Shi was examined after the robbery. "All I remember of the night was a stabbing pain in my backside. I thought they had just slashed me, I didn't realize the whole blade had gone all the way in," Shi told London's "Metro."

EuroPics

Lance Armstrong's injury

A pileup during a cycling race in Spain last month left seven-time Tour de France champ, Lance Armstrong, with a smashed clavicle. In a video message on livestrong.com, Armstrong, 37, says "Initially we thought this was a simple fracture. When we came home we took additional X-rays, additional CT scans and realized the collarbone was actually in a quite a few pieces." Here, you can see the 4 -to 5-inch plate and 12 inch-long screws that Texas orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Douglas Elenz, used to stabilize Armstrong's bone during a three-hour procedure. Armstrong jokingly tweeted "I'm screwed" after posting a picture of his X-ray on March 31, 2009. According to reports, the injury will require two to three months of healing.

Elizabeth Kreutz, CSE/AP

Struck by a fishing spear

This six-inch fishing spear was removed from Emerson de Oliveira Abreu's brain after he was struck while diving off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 29, 2009. According to reports, Abreu fired the spear himself, which ricocheted off rocks and penetrated his head so deeply that only the tip was showing. Doctors performed five hours of high-risk surgery to remove the object. Amazingly, Abreu is doing well and is not likely to suffer major lasting damage, as the spear missed the most critical areas of his brain, Dr. Manoel Moreira told Globo TV.

AP

Stabbed in the head
An X-ray of Michael Hill, of Jacksonville, Fla., with a seven-inch knife sticking out of his skull was on display during the grand opening of Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium in New York's Times Square in 2007. Amazingly, Hill survived.

Ripley's Believe It Or Not / AP

Punished for being a girl
After 29-year-old Luo Cuifen of China saw blood in her urine, she went to doctors who found 23 needles in her body. Doctors believe the woman's grandparents may have inserted the needles under her skin as a child to kill her because they wanted a boy. Over time many of the needles have worked their way into Luo's vital organs including her lungs, liver, bladder and kidneys. She had the first of several complicated surgeries to remove the needles in 2007.

Richland International Hospital / AP

Stabbed trying to save his father
An X-ray provided by the Ministry of Defence/British Army shows a knife embedded in the head of an unidentified 10-year-old Afghan boy who was stabbed while trying to protect his father during a argument with a male customer in his shop in Kandahar. Medics from Britain's Reserve Territorial Army helped save the boy's life.

MOD, British Army, Hand Out / AP

Bar brawl gone wrong
The leg of a chair thrown outside a Melbourne, Australia, club in January 2007 speared Shafique el-Fahkri's eye socket down to his neck. He spent a month in intensive care, but has mostly recovered. His face bears only a small scar, below his eye. Astoundingly, his vision is almost 95 percent complete.

AAPImage / AP

Not just a toothache
This dental X-ray reveals a four-inch nail embedded in the skull of Patrick Lawler, 23. Lawler unknowingly shot himself with a nail gun while working in Breckenridge, a ski resort town in the central Colorado mountains. The accident left Lawler with what he thought was a minor toothache and blurry vision. When painkillers and ice failed to stop the ache six days later, he went to a dental office where the nail was discovered and then removed at Littleton Adventist Hospital in suburban Denver.

The Family Dental Center / KUSA-TV / AP