Ingestion of foreign bodies can lead to serious problems. 80% to 90% of ingested foreign bodies pass without warning, however some may cause serious problems, like perforation and obstruction of the bowels, perforation of the abdominal wall or in some cases poisoning can occur [Lia08]. It has become a recurrent problem with 80% of the patients being children [Lia08]. Other patients include the elderly, mentally impaired patients, alcoholic individuals, and may occur intentionally in prisoners or psychiatric patients. .
Foreign bodies with smooth edges usually do not pose significant problems; however sharp objects like razor blades, pins, needles or screws pose a bigger threat. Ingestion of metallic foreign bodies such as large coins or button-type batteries can also lead to poisoning due to the chemical reaction caused by the body.
Case Study - Swallowed foreign bodies: 3 blades.
On the evening of September 20th, 2014 a 24 year-old male was brought to the emergency room by paramedics. He was complaining of abdominal pain. He had a police escort because he was an inmate at a nearby prison. The officers gave the medical history of the inmate as well as a recollection of what they had seen happened. They said they had no fights so the patient was not physically attacked by anyone. They did mentioned however, that cell searches were being performed. The patient stated the only thing he ate was lunch that day and nothing else. He also said he thought he was being poisoned. The ER doctor in charge ordered x-rays to be performed. X-rays of the posterior and anterior of the abdomen revealed the patient had swallowed three razor blades.
For the X-ray procedure my clinical instructor used a film size of 14 by 17. He used 80 KVP and 40 mAs portable. He took anterior and posterior x-rays of the abdomen to determine if there was a foreign object swallowed and the type of foreign object swallowed.
