The man, who was not identified for reasons of patient confidentiality, was admitted to hospital in the Baltic port city of Klaipeda with severe abdominal pain, The Guardian reports.

An X-ray of his stomach showed up pieces of metal – some measuring up to 10cm (4in).

“During the three-hour operation with X-ray control, all foreign bodies, even the smallest ones, in the patient’s stomach were removed,” said surgeon Sarunas Dailidenas.

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Algirdas Slepavicius, head surgeon at Klaipeda Hospital, told local media.

The doctor said that the man had begun swallowing the metal objects over the last month after he had stopped drinking.

The patient was in a stable condition following the operation, he added.