Foreign Material in the Gastrointestinal Tract: Cocaine Packets

Küçükmetin, Nurten Türkel; Güçyetmez, Bülent; Poyraz, Tuncer; Yıldırım, Sadık; Boztaş, Güngör; Tözün, Nurdan

doi:10.1159/000358555

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Cocaine is one of the most trafficked drugs, followed by heroin. Condoms, latex gloves, and balloons are typically used as drug packets for retention in the body [8,9]. While ''body packers'' transport packets of wrapped cocaine within their gastrointestinal tract by swallowing them, ''body pushers'' insert the packets into body cavities: vagina, rectum, or ears [10].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging of body packing: errors and medico-legal issues

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Body packing is the ingestion or insertion in the human body of packed illicit substances. Over the last 20 years, drug smuggling has increased global and new means of transport of narcotics have emerged. Among these, the most frequent one is the gastrointestinal tract: from mouth to anus, vagina, and ears. Cocaine is one of the most traded drugs, followed by heroin. Condoms, latex gloves, and balloons are typically used as drug packets for retention in the body. There are different radiologic modalities to detect illicit drugs in body packing: Plain radiography, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, and magnetic resonance. Current protocols recommend the use of radiography to confirm packet retention and, in case of doubt, the use of abdominal CT scan with reduced mAs. In case of packet rupture, catastrophic effects can occur. Management of patients carrying packets of drugs is a recurrent medico-legal problem. To improve diagnostic accuracy and prevent hazardous complications, radiologists and emergency physicians should be familiar with radiologic features of body packing. The radiologist plays both a social and a medico-legal role in their assessment, and it should not be limited only to the identification of the packages but must also provide accurate information about their number and their exact location. In this review, we focus on diagnostic errors and medico-legal issues related to the radiological assessment of body packers.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging of body packing: errors and medico-legal issues

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Body packers are often suspected because of unusual behaviors, such as using specific travel routes, sitting motionless, refusing to eat or drink during the flight, and a typical breath odor resulting from gastric acid acting on the capsules (11). Body packers usually use constipating agents, especially diphenoxylate or loperamide, after swallowing the capsules.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Body packers usually use constipating agents, especially diphenoxylate or loperamide, after swallowing the capsules. After reaching their final destination, body packers use laxatives, cathartics, or enemas to help evacuate the capsules rectally (9,11).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

International Smuggling of Cocaine by Body Concealment: A Case Report

Kaplan¹,

Söğüt²,

Yigit³

2016

Iran Red Crescent Med J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction: We present a case report of a healthy man who ingested a large number of well-manufactured cocaine packages to smuggle them across international borders. Case Presentation: A 36-year-old man ingested cocaine packages worth approximately US $900,000 to transport it from Dubai to Madrid. He was arrested by police at Istanbul Ataturk Airport for suspected body packing of drugs. On arrival to the emergency department of our tertiary-care university hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, he confessed that he had attempted to smuggle 76 packages of cocaine in his gastrointestinal tract. The patient complained of nausea, but did not have abdominal pain. The physical examination was unremarkable. Radiological screening showed many small packages in the abdomen. There were no signs of intestinal obstruction. In this case, repeat computed tomography of the abdomen confirmed complete evacuation. The patient was discharged into police custody six hours later, after passing the number of packets that he had reported to have swallowed. Conclusions: Abdominal radiography and computed tomography are useful tools for in the evaluation of suspected body packers. Improved packaging material used by smugglers and a more conservative treatment approach have reduced the mortality and morbidity.

show abstract

“…3 Concealment in the digestive tract is the predominant Body packing form. 4 This means of transportation involves cocaine and heroin in particular, and its use is becoming increasingly common in West Africa in general and in Senegal in particular. Curiously, very few cases have been reported in the medical literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical and forensic aspect’s of the cocaine body packer in senegal

Ngongang¹,

Bigot

Nseme³

et al. 2021

IJFMTS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study aims to describe the clinical and forensic features of the cocaine body packer in Senegal.This research work is a retrospective and descriptive study. It was conducted based on 19 suspect cases attended for medical care at the Hospital of tambacounda. Suspects were exclusively male subjects, aged 24 to 33 years and Nigerian citizens. All of them were asymptomatic. Pelvic touch was positive in 42.1% of cases. Abdominal radiography pointed out that all the suspects presented with damage (100%). The average number of drug pellets carried per person was 43+/- 20 units. Body drug packing is a reality in Senegal. Narcotic drug policies should invest in capacity building by financing effective diagnostic tools.

show abstract

Foreign Material in the Gastrointestinal Tract: Cocaine Packets

Cited by 14 publications

References 10 publications

Imaging of body packing: errors and medico-legal issues

Imaging of body packing: errors and medico-legal issues

International Smuggling of Cocaine by Body Concealment: A Case Report

Clinical and forensic aspect’s of the cocaine body packer in senegal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About