An incidental finding of a gastric foreign body 25 years after ingestion - Polidicks

[release] A 76-year-old female, with a blameless medical history other than well-controlled depression, was referred for urgent investigation due to weight loss and diarrhoea. A flexible sigmoidoscopy demonstrated severe diverticulosis and a subsequent CT abdomen showed a linear foreign body in the stomach but no other abnormality ([URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001.full?sid=fba8736f-33ca-4362-a35e-bb230df19d64Images%20in..#F1"]figure 1[/URL]). Her symptoms resolved spontaneously. On subsequent questioning, she recalled unintentionally swallowing a pen 25 years earlier. While she was interrogating a spot on her tonsil with the pen she slipped, fell and swallowed the pen by mistake. Her husband and general practitioner dismissed her story and plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal. A gastroscopy demonstrated a plastic felt-tip pen sitting in the lumen of the stomach without evidence of any gastric damage. The case was discussed at the gastrointestinal multi-disciplinary meeting and the consensus of opinion was that despite being there for 25 years without causing any problems, the pen should be removed as there has been at least one case report of a duodenal perforation caused by an ingested ballpoint pen.[URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001.full?sid=fba8736f-33ca-4362-a35e-bb230df19d64Images%20in..#ref-1"]1[/URL] It was subsequently removed in a combined endoscopic and ear, nose and throat procedure under general anaesthetic. The pen was still in working order ([URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001.full?sid=fba8736f-33ca-4362-a35e-bb230df19d64Images%20in..#F2"]figure 2[/URL]). This case highlights that plain abdominal x-rays may not identify ingested plastic objects and occasionally it may be worth believing the patient’s account however unlikely it may be.[URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F1.large.jpg"][IMG]http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F1.medium.gif[/IMG][/URL]View larger version: [URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F1.large.jpg"]In a new window[/URL] [URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/powerpoint/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F1"]Download as PowerPoint Slide[/URL] [B]Figure 1[/B]CT scan demonstrating a linear foreign body in the stomach of a 76-year-old woman. [URL="http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F2.large.jpg"][IMG]http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F2.medium.gif[/IMG][/URL] [B]Figure 2[/B]Felt-tip pen still in working order after 25 years in stomach acid. [/release] [URL]http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001.full?sid=fba8736f-33ca-4362-a35e-bb230df19d64Images%20in..[/URL] Wow

Using a pen to poke at your tonsils wasn't smart in the first place!

[QUOTE=Dantai;33823481]Using a pen to poke at your tonsils wasn't smart in the first place![/QUOTE] people are getting dumber and dumber all together now!

What brand pen is that? I'll buy ten, those things are indestructible.

[QUOTE=Omali;33823707]What brand pen is that? I'll buy ten, those things are indestructible.[/QUOTE] looks like your typical buy-in-bulk Bic pen.

Oh gosh, I swallowed a straw a few years ago and I don't think I ever passed it...

[quote][img]http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2011/bcr.10.2011.5001/F2.medium.gif[/img][/quote] I don't know why, but I find this hilarious.

[QUOTE=lockdown6;33823787]a what now[/QUOTE] In normalspeak: "Somebody stuck a camera on a bendy straw up her ass and found snot bubbles." Or they went down her throat. I have no idea where these snot bubbles would be relative to the pen itself, because I'm no pen-swallowin' expert. Either way, bendy straw, camera, snot bubbles where they ought not be.

I swallowed a quarter when I was a kid, I wonder now if I ever passed that or if there's a bit of cash hanging out in my gut

Who the fuck picked it up and tried to write with it?!

Did they give her the pen back?

[QUOTE=LilRobot;33823499]people are getting dumber and dumber all together now![/QUOTE] [del]Except this was 25 years ago.[/del] Wait nevermind I get it now.

[quote]Her husband and general practitioner dismissed her story and plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal.[/quote] Wait a minute. She told her husband and doctor that she had accidentally swallowed a pen and they dismissed it? What the fuck? Why would they have dismissed it? Did they think she was making it up? Why would she have done that? If I swallowed a goddamn pen, I wouldn't want my doctor to just say, "Bullshit" and send me on my way.

[QUOTE=Kinversulath;33824225]Wait a minute. She told her husband and doctor that she had accidentally swallowed a pen and they dismissed it? What the fuck? Why would they have dismissed it? Did they think she was making it up? Why would she have done that? If I swallowed a goddamn pen, I wouldn't want my doctor to just say, "Bullshit" and send me on my way.[/QUOTE] More like an "it'll dissolve, you'll be fine" dismissal.

[QUOTE=Kinversulath;33824225]Wait a minute. She told her husband and doctor that she had accidentally swallowed a pen and they dismissed it? What the fuck? Why would they have dismissed it? Did they think she was making it up? Why would she have done that? If I swallowed a goddamn pen, I wouldn't want my doctor to just say, "Bullshit" and send me on my way.[/QUOTE] They didn't simply say "bullshit", as a "general practitioner dismissed her story [U]as plain abdominal films done at the time were reported as normal" [/U]

Why was she [quote]interrogating a spot on her tonsil with the pen[/quote]? I can see how it would be difficult to talk to your own tonsils, so did the pen ask the questions on her behalf?

[QUOTE=BoSoZoku;33830091]Why was she ? I can see how it would be difficult to talk to your own tonsils, so did the pen ask the questions on her behalf?[/QUOTE] Possible, considering it could still write "hello" after 25 years of stomach acid exposure that pen seems to be quite the talker.

[QUOTE=Kinversulath;33824225]Wait a minute. She told her husband and doctor that she had accidentally swallowed a pen and they dismissed it? What the fuck? Why would they have dismissed it? Did they think she was making it up? Why would she have done that? If I swallowed a goddamn pen, I wouldn't want my doctor to just say, "Bullshit" and send me on my way.[/QUOTE] Well it was so many years ago they probably thought it would have been passed a long time ago.