09/17/09doctor removes plastic fragment lodged in lung

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Doctors say a North Carolina man who was plagued with coughing fits should be OK now that they have removed a 1-inch piece of plastic that he sucked into his lung. The fragment of an eating utensil had rested there since 50-year-old John Manley apparently inhaled it nearly two years ago while swallowing a soft drink at a Wendy's restaurant.

Doctors at Duke University Medical Center say the foreign object was likely to blame for the coughing, fatigue and pneumonia that plagued Manley for almost two years.

When they pulled it from Manley's left lung Sept. 10, they could still read the Wendy's logo and part of the word "hamburgers."

Dr. Momen Wahidi at Duke called it "one of the weirdest things I've removed in my career."

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090917/D9AP83385.html