Sword swallowing and its side effects
Source: British Medical Journal (BMJ)

Results: We had information from 46 sword swallowers. Major complications are more likely when the swallower is distracted or swallows multiple or unusual swords or when previous injury is present. Perforations mainly involve the oesophagus and usually have a good prognosis. Sore throats are common, particularly while the skill is being learnt or when performances are too frequent. Major gastrointestinal bleeding sometimes occurs, and occasional chest pains tend to be treated without medical advice. Sword swallowers without healthcare coverage expose themselves to financial as well as physical risk.

Conclusions: Sword swallowers run a higher risk of injury when they are distracted or adding embellishments to their performance, but injured performers have a better prognosis than patients who suffer iatrogenic perforation.

Other unusual full-text papers from the 23 December 2006 issue of the BMJ:

• You’re not going to give me the umbrella, are you? (”The ‘umbrella test’ is a longstanding urban myth that still bothers men who present for testing at sexual health clinic.”)
• Why Danes are smug: comparative study of life satisfaction in the European Union
• Phenotypic differences between male physicians, surgeons, and film stars: comparative study (”Male surgeons are taller and better looking than physicians, but film stars who play doctors on screen are better looking than both these groups of doctors. Whether these phenotypic differences are genetic or environmental is unclear.”)
• Subcutaneous inflammation mimicking metastatic malignancy induced by injection of mistletoe extract (”We describe the histological features of subcutaneous inflammation induced by mistletoe, a popular Christmas decoration, when used as an anticancer complementary therapy.”)
• Daisy the Doctor, Dr Dose, Dr Grizzly, Dr Amelia Bedelia, and colleagues (”To our knowledge, there are no previous studies on books for children about doctors and hospitals and whether they present an accurate view. We looked at a series of books to investigate the image of doctors, their attitudes, and their jobs.”)
• Physicians in opera—reflection of medical history and public perception (”A systematic search in theatrical reference books yielded 40 operas from three centuries in which physicians appear on stage.”)
• Faints, fits, and fatalities from emotion in Shakespeare’s characters: survey of the canon (”10 deaths from strong emotion are recorded by Shakespeare (three occur on stage); all are due to grief, typically at the loss of a loved one.”)

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