CHANGSHA, China, March 1 (UPI) -- Doctors in China said they are trying to figure out how they will remove a thermometer that has been inside a woman's lung for 44 years.

The Hunan province doctors said they found the 2-inch-long medical thermometer in the lungs of a patient identified only as Liu and she told them she accidentally swallowed the object when she was 12-years-old and her family couldn't afford medical care, MSNBC.com reported Thursday.


Doctors said the woman only recently began to feel discomfort from the thermometer and they are concerned about the damage the mercury could do to the woman's body if the glass breaks.