Abstract
Ingestion of magnets is becoming a common problem among children and teens and are known to be associated with serious complications that result from pressure necrosis and bowel perforation. We report a series of eight children with multiple magnets ingestion that resulted in complications including small bowel perforation and intestinal obstruction necessitating an emergency laparotomy and intestinal resection. The aim of this report is to raise awareness of the complications associated with magnet ingestion in children. The literature on the subject is also reviewed and early surgical intervention is recommended for multiple swallowed magnets. The role of laparoscopy in this regard is also stressed.
Highlights
Children are known to ingest inadvertently or intentionally a variety of foreign bodies such as coins, pins, screws, button batteries, or toy parts but the majority of them pass spontaneously without health consequences [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8]
Rapid evaluation of children with swallowed magnets is critical and to avoid complications and these magnets must be identified and if more than one removed. This is a report of eight children who swallowed multiple magnets necessitating an emergency laparotomy and or Laparoscopy because of intestinal obstruction and perforation
The strong magnetic force leads to attraction between them and they pull toward each other leading to pressure against the intestinal walls with subsequent pressure necrosis, perforation, fistula formation and intestinal obstruction [13, 14, 15 and 16]
Summary
Children are known to ingest inadvertently or intentionally a variety of foreign bodies such as coins, pins, screws, button batteries, or toy parts but the majority of them pass spontaneously without health consequences [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8]. This is not the case always and sometimes these swallowed objects can cause intestinal obstruction, perforation or bleeding. Rapid evaluation of children with swallowed magnets is critical and to avoid complications and these magnets must be identified and if more than one removed This is a report of eight children who swallowed multiple magnets necessitating an emergency laparotomy and or Laparoscopy because of intestinal obstruction and perforation
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