Foreign Body Ingestion by a Psychiatric Patient Requiring an Appendectomy: A Case Report

Abstract

In the surgical field, the correct approach to the psychiatric patient represents a medical challenge, given the special considerations to be taken in the individualization of their diagnosis and treatment. We present an uncommon case of a 29-year-old patient with associated psychiatric pathology who presented to the emergency room after the introduction of two foreign bodies into the nasal cavity. After the endoscopic removal of one of the foreign bodies, the X-ray follow-up shows a second foreign body into the esophagus, which progressed to the vermiform appendix, causing the classical clinical signs of acute appendicitis as a complication. The importance of considering that events treated by the otorhinolaryngology area may have complications for urgent management by the general surgery service is denoted in this article.