Body Packing

Pinto, Antonio; Reginelli, Alfonso; Russo, Anna; Fabozzi, Giuseppina; Giovine, S; Romano, Luigia

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-96737-0_16

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…2 The packages usually contain life-threatening doses of cocaine, opium, heroin, amphetamines, and methamphetamine derivatives enclosed in condoms, capsules, balloons, or plastic bags to resist rupture during long-distance drug smuggling. [2][3][4][5] The size, weight, and content of the packets usually depend on the type of illicit drug, age of body packer, packer's smuggling skills, and the length of time the packets need to stay in the body of the body packer. 6 However, 50-100 packets, nearly one kilogram of drug, packed by a person is rarely reported.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gastric Obstruction by Opium Packets: A Case Report

et al. 2022

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Background: We reported a case of gastric obstruction in a body packer who swallowed a large number of opium packets. Case Report: A 36-year-old man opium addict visited the emergency department with epigastric pain for three days. He swallowed nearly 90 packets of opium for smuggling purposes four days earlier. He self-administered laxatives. In contrast, many times vomiting, he defecated only four packets and vomited one packet. The abdominal X-rays showed some amounts of fluid-air levels and multiple cylindrical opacities with the double-condom sign, corresponding to the distended stomach. Due to the worsening of his abdominal symptoms, he underwent an urgent laparotomy and 84 packets (4-6 cm in size and 8-10 g/ packet of opium) with a total weight of 870 g. They were wrapped in some layers of plastic and tied at the ends. He was discharged in stable condition. Conclusion: A large number of ingested drug packets can induce gastrointestinal obstruction.

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