导读:印度，是一个神奇的国度，各种匪夷所思的事情层出不穷，今天带你见识一位神奇的“吞刀人”。
When a patient shows up at a hospital with severe abdominal pain and an ultrasound reveals a mass in his stomach, it’s only logical to think first of a tumor, perhaps cancer.
一般情况下，当一名有严重腹痛症状的病人出现在医院，并且超声诊断结果显示在胃部有块状物的时候，医生的第一反应往往是肿瘤，并且有癌症的可能。
And that’s just what surgeons at Amritsar Corporate Hospital in India at first assumed, according to a hospital news release. But then they put a camera down into the man’s stomach Friday “and saw a very different kind of thing,” Jatinder Malholtra, the chief surgeon, told The Washington Post.
在印度北部城市阿姆利丹的一家社区医院里，据主治医生Jatinder Malholtra向记者透露，起初他也是这样认为的，可当把微型摄像头伸到该男子的胃部时却有了“不同寻常的发现”。
So different was it — they had never seen such a sight — that they did a CT scan to confirm what they saw, as it simply defied belief. And they found not just one of these things but many of them.
通过CT扫描医生发现在该男子体内不仅仅是有几个而是几十个这样的相同物体，如此反常的病症连医生都未曾见过。
The things were knives, pocket knives, each about seven inches long. “In 20 years, I’ve never seen such a patient,” Malholtra said in an interview. “I was amazed.”
Malholtra医生在采访时说：“我当时也震惊了，那些不明物竟然是长约七英寸的小折刀，我从医二十多年来从未遇到过这样的病人。”
“We asked the patient whether he had consumed these knives in a few days or a few months,” said Malholtra. “He said he had taken 28 in number in the last two months.”
“当我们询问病人是否清楚这些刀在他体内的时间时，病人称在过去的两个月里他总计吞下28把刀。” Malholtra医生说。
A team of five surgeons opened the patient up. They found exactly 28 knives, just like the man said.
由五位外科医生组成的医疗组为该病人进行了开腹手术，在其体内正好发现了28把小折刀。
But while some of the knives were folded up, some were not. Their blades exposed, the man was bleeding profusely, said Malholtra. He could not have survived much longer, he added.
这些刀中有一些是折起的，而有一些是打开的，刀刃露在外面，因此病人出现了大出血的症状，Malholtra医生曾一度以为该病人不能存活下来。
Perhaps the man, a 42-year-old police officer, had miscalculated. Perhaps his appetite for knives was greater than even he knew. After all, a man who eats knives is not normal。
然而也许是这位在警察局工作的42岁病人数错了，抑或是他这种“吃刀”的欲望已经超乎自身的意识，毕竟这种“吃刀”的人很难说是精神正常的。
They did another scan in the operating theater and sure enough, found another 12, bringing the total to 40.
医生在手术室里对该病人又进行了一次扫描，果然又发现了12把刀，这样在该病人体内总共发现了40把刀。
Why would a man swallow any knives, let alone 40?
到底该男子为什么要“吃刀”，更何况是40把？
The man simply said “‘I have made my mind to take the knives. I don’t know why. Impulse.’ They were taken on impulse only.”
据该男子说：“我也不知道为什么，就是控制不了自己，因为一时的冲动。”
In fact, there is a condition called Pica, once described in the Journal of the American Board of Medicine, as “common, but commonly missed.”
实际上，有一种叫做“异食癖”的病，曾被美国医学协会成为“一种普遍，但是又一般被忽略的疾病。”，
Pica, said the article. “is the compulsive eating of nonnutritive substances. Although it has been described since antiquity, there has been no single agreed-upon explanation of the cause of such behavior.”
论文中称，“异食癖”一般表现为“对于某些无营养物质的高度痴狂，虽然从很久之前就对这种疾病有过记载，但至今为止医学界对此种病症仍没有一个统一的解释。”
Perhaps a further study of the police officer from India who ate 40 knives will shed more light on Pica. But Malholtra will be happy to never see him again, at least not in that condition.
也许这位吞下40把刀的印度病人可以为“异食癖”贡献更深入的研究资料，但Malholtra医生称可不想再次为该病人做同样的治疗。
Indeed, the man told the surgeons “‘I will not do it in the future.’”
而且，该男子告诉医生：“我以后不会再吃了！”
