A Curious Case of a Wooden Toothpick Inside a Child’s Knee

Abstract

Case: A 10-year-old boy presented with vague symptoms, a few days after a nondescript injury to his left knee. History, examination and blood tests, and imaging were unremarkable. Because of his severe pain, we proceeded to arthroscopy. On proceeding to arthroscopy, a wooden toothpick was found inside the knee joint. The wooden toothpick was removed arthroscopically. Conclusion: The physicians/surgeons have to be vigilant and should approach holistically toward history and examination of a child presenting with vague signs and symptoms.

Late Presentation of a Retained Wood Foreign Body as an Expanding Soft-Tissue Mass in an Adolescent's Foot

“…It is common for children and adolescents to lodge foreign bodies into the tissues of their extremities 4 . Agarwal found that more than 80% of patients with retained foreign bodies were boys and 58% involved the foot 5 .…”