A 47-year-old man was thought to have cancer when he was consistently coughing up yellow phlem for over a year.
After an x-ray showed a mass on the lung, coupled with the man's former smoking habits, doctors thought the man had tumour.
However, doctors were left surprised when the 1cm mass turned out to be a plastic toy from Playmobil.
The man revealed he used to play with the small figures and even swallow them as a young child.
The toy was removed with biopsey forceps, The Guardian UK reports.
"[The patient] recalled being given this Playmobil set for his seventh birthday and believes he aspirated the toy traffic cone soon after," the publication quoted the BMJ Case Reports.
It's believed to be the first case of its kind.
“This may be because aspiration occurred at such a young age that the patient’s airway was able to remodel and adapt to the presence of this foreign body,” the case report said.
After the toy was removed from the man's body, his cough had almost cleared and other ailments improved.
"He finally found his long-lost Playmobil traffic cone in the very last place he would look," the case report said.
