Breast Cancer in women under 40 - The Belfast Experience

Foreign body ingestion: Is intervention always a necessity?

“…Along the passage course, impacted objects might end up with a wide spectrum of complications, manifesting in a form of abscess (retropharyngeal, hepatic or retroperitoneal), esophageal or intestinal perforation, bowel obstruction, hemorrhage and even death [ 4 , 9 ]. Impaction of swallowed items might occur near areas of anatomical narrowing such as the lower esophageal sphincter, pylorus, ileocecal valve and, in rare instances, the appendiceal lumen [ 10 ]. Mohammed et al reported a case of screw ingestion in a 4-year-old boy, which was impacted in the appendiceal wall and thus resulted in acute appendicitis [ 11 ].…”

“…In general, around 90% of ingested items pass uneventfully with conservative management, on the contrary, 10% and 1% require endoscopic and surgical interventions, respectively [ 13 ]. Needles, fishbones and razor blades, along with other sharp items, have a risk of perforation estimated to reach 35%, particularly observed at the ileocecal valve [ 10 ]. Therefore, endoscopic extraction remains a necessity in managing sharp objects to avoid subsequent complications [ 4 ].…”