Doctors in Lithuania said on Friday they had removed over a kilogram of nails and screws from the stomach of a man who started swallowing metallic objects after quitting alcohol.

The man, who was not identified for reasons of patient confidentiality, was admitted to hospital in the Baltic port city of Klaipeda with severe abdominal pain.

An X-ray of his stomach showed up pieces of metal -- some measuring up to 10 centimetres (four inches).

"During the three-hour operation with X-ray control, all foreign bodies, even the smallest ones, in the patient's stomach were removed," said surgeon Sarunas Dailidenas.

The hospital provided local media with a photograph of a surgical tray heaped with nails and screws.

"We've never seen anything like it," Algirdas Slepavicius, head surgeon at Klaipeda Hospital told local media.

The doctor said that the man had begun swallowing the metal objects over the last month after he had stopped drinking. 

The patient was in a stable condition following the operation, he added.