Shocking medical scans

Tooth in ear

This tomography scan released Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012 by the Miguel Couto hospital, shows the skull of 24-year-old construction worker Eduardo Leite after it was pierced by a metal bar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Doctors say Leite survived after a 6-foot metal bar fell from above him and pierced his head. Doctor's reportedly successfully withdrew the iron bar during a five-hour-long surgery.

Water-absorbing ball

Spear gun

16-year-old Yasser Lopez of Miami was injured when a spear gun his friend was holding accidentally discharged, causing a spear more than three-feet long to impale his skull and brain. Amazingly the teen survived, and was even able to speak to doctors throughout the whole ordeal.

33-pound tumor

In this still image taken from an undated video released by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) on Tuesday, June 26, 2012, an image created through medical imaging technology shows an X-ray-like image of 2-year-old Jesus Rodriguez, prior to having a benign tumor removed from his body. Mexican doctors successfully removed a 33 pound tumor from the toddler that was heavier than his body weight.

Grenade lodged in jaw

51-pound tumor

Shear luck

Be careful while doing yard work - this old man tripped and was accidentally impaled on his pruning shears, which penetrated his eye socket and reached down into his neck. Thankfully, he made a full recovery.

Crime victim

This unfortunate person was attacked with a screwdriver. Believe it or not, doctors removed the weapon - and the patient made a full recovery.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but some of the images on this list might leave you speechless.

Medical imaging scans like an X-ray, CT scan or ultrasound can tell doctors what's wrong with a patient, and in the case of many of these scans, doctors were given a clear picture of odd objects patients ingested or were impaled by. With X-rays generously provided by Dr. Tim B. Hunter, professor of radiology at the University of Arizona, and others pulled from the headlines, here are 21 shocking X-rays and imaging scans.

Pictured here is a person who appeared to shove a pen into his head.

Nail gun

Watch those nail guns. This worker didn't, and he wound up shooting a nail into his hand. Doctors removed it, and he was fine.

Pen lodged in stomach for 25 years

In a case published in British Medical Journal Case Reports, a woman had a pen lodged in her stomach for 25 years. When doctors removed the pen, it still could write.

Running with sharp objects

This scary-looking image shows what can happen when a toddler runs with a pen in his mouth. When he fell, the pen went through the inside of his upper lip - and kept going until it had reached almost to the eye socket. But he was lucky - it came out and he was fine.

Blowgun

To a boy, playing with a blowgun sounds like great fun. Only this boy sucked when he should have blown - and inhaled a corsage pin into his windpipe. Luckily, doctors were able to retrieve it without too much trouble - and the boy went home none the worse.

Watch your step

This young man stepped on a nail while wearing sandals.

Antenna accident

Mom was hysterical when her young son came home with a car's radio antenna protruding from his chest. Seems he had been playing in a tree when he fell, landed on a junk heap, and an antenna impaled his rectum, going clean through his body and out his chest. Amazingly, no major organs were injured. Once doctors removed the antenna, the boy made a full recovery.

Not-so-routine mammogram

This bullet, lodged in a woman's left breast, was discovered during a routine mammogram years after she had been shot. It didn't seem to pose any threat to her health, so doctors left it in place. She told doctors that the man who shot her was dead.

Heroin smuggle gone awry

Some drug "mules" swallow drug-filled condoms or balloons before passing through customs, intending to collect the drugs once they've been passed. But it's risky business. If even one of the condoms ruptures while still inside the body, the result can be a gigantic overdose - possibly fatal.

Some nuts aren't for eating

This is what happened when a poorly supervised mental patient got hold of some nuts - the kind that screw onto bolts. At the point the x-ray was taken, the nuts were partway through the small intestine. They eventually passed without incident.

Swallowed Buckyballs

3-year-old Payton Bushnell swallowed 37 Buckyballs, and the magnetic balls snapped the girl's intestines together, ripped three holes into her lower intestine and one hole into her stomach.

Swallowed razor blade

The abdomen in this x-ray belonged to a mentally unstable man who swallowed a box-cutter blade. "Swallowing objects is very common in mental institutions," says Dr. Tim B. Hunter, professor of radiology at the University of Arizona and a collector of unusual X-ray images. But the blade passed without harm. Once they reach the large intestine, says Dr. Hunter, swallowed foreign bodies often pass without harm.

Foot pain

This is what can happen when you step on a pen. Doctors frequently x-ray such injuries to make sure there is no damage to the bone. The soft tissue heals quickly with minimal treatment.

Tumor on fetus

This screengrab shows an ultrasound of Leyna Gonzalez who had an oral teratoma, a fast-growing tumor that grows on a fetus while in the womb. Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami were successfully able to remove the tumor while she was 17-weeks old in the first-of-its-kind procedure.

Step on a screw

Here's a worker who stepped on a screw. Luckily, there was no lasting damage.

Swallowed knife

Flatware is for eating - not swallowing. Unfortunately, this mental patient didn't make the distinction - and wound up with a knife lodged in his esophagus. It had to be surgically removed.