Spontaneous Trans-Abdominal Expulsion of a Foreign Body: A Rare Occurrence

Abstract

A 55-year-old Indian male presented with intermittent epigastric pain 15 days after accidental ingestion of a wooden tooth brush (commonly used in India). A week later he developed severe pain, high grade fever, lump and induration in left iliac fossa. Thereafter he noticed spontaneous rupture of the lump with drainage of copious amount of pus and expulsion of 17 cm long wooden tooth brush [ ABSTRACTLarge and sharp foreign bodies invariably need surgical removal. A 55-year-old male, had epigastric pain, two weeks after accidental ingestion of wooden tooth brush. Later he developed pain, fever and indurations in left iliac fossa followed by spontaneous expulsion of foreign body through indurated area on the anterior abdominal wall. Contrast enhanced computed tomography revealed an inflammatory tract along the posterior wall of stomach communicating with the anterior abdominal wall. Patient was managed conservatively and made an uneventful recovery.

Spontaneous resolution of gastric perforation caused by an ingested foreign body: a case report

“…After an object has perforated the gastric wall, the foreign body can either lie in the visceral lumen at the site of perforation, pass through the perforation site and lie free in the peritoneal cavity or migrate to a distal organ, or as demonstrated in this case, fall back into the lumen of the stomach [ 6 ]. Alternatively, objects can perforate through the gastric wall and can be spontaneously expelled through the anterior abdominal wall [ 12 ]. If it falls back into the lumen, it can then either pass through the GI tract uneventfully or can be removed with endoscopic therapy.…”