Small Bowel Perforation Due to an Unusual Foreign Body

Abstract

Gastrointestinal perforation is one of the most common causes of acute abdomen presenting to the casualty. However, gastrointestinal perforation due to ingestion of foreign body is rare and is usually encountered in children, psychiatric patients and in alcoholics. Most of the foreign bodies pass through the GI tract without any complications. Only about 1% are known to cause complications such as perforation. Fish or chicken bones, dentures, toy parts, coins, toothpicks are the most commonly encountered foreign bodies. In this report, we present a case of a 60-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with acute abdomen secondary to ingestion of an unusual foreign body that lead to perforation and underwent exploratory laparotomy for removal of the foreign body.
 Gastrointestinal perforation is one of the most common causes of acute abdomen presenting to the casualty that needs a timely surgical intervention.[1] Important sites of gastrointestinal perforation are stomach, duodenum, small bowel (jejunum, small intestine), appendix, colon and rectum.
 The most common causes of gastrointestinal perforation include peptic ulcer disease, diverticulitis, carcinomas, IBD, ischemia of bowel wall and infrequently foreign bodies.[2]
 Foreign body ingestion as seen in children is unintentional and can be deliberate in psychiatric patients.[3] In general, many of these foreign bodies travel through the gastrointestinal tract without causing complications. Only about 1% cases of ingested foreign bodies cause complications such as hollow viscus obstruction and/ or perforation which are usually life threatening and have poorer outcomes if diagnosis is delayed.[4,5] CT is the imaging tool of choice. Such conditions require immediate surgical intervention such as exploratory laparotomy or laparoscopic or endoscopic removal can be attempted in case of stomach or duodenal foreign bodies.
 Here in the following case report, we present an atypical case who arrived at the emergency room with acute abdomen following a foreign body consumption and underwent exploratory laparotomy for retrieval of foreign body.