Multiple foreign body ingestion and ileal perforation

Abstract

Foreign body ingestion is a common problem encountered in the pediatric age group. The swallowed object is often passed with little or no morbidity. Problems ensue if the ingested foreign body is hazardous, is multiple, or becomes impacted. We describe an ileal perforation following the ingestion of an alkaline disc battery, a magnet, and a steel ball impacted in the ileum for about 48 h. The magnet and the steel ball were attracted to each other, forming a composite unit. The disc battery and the magnet were attracted to each other across a loop of ileum, causing necrosis and perforation of the ileum.

Hidden Attraction: A Menacing Meal of Magnets and Batteries

“…Even magnets in direct contact at the time of ingestion can later separate and cause complications (10). Plain radiographs can show magnets in close proximity to each other and apparently touching, when they are actually separated by bowel loops (10)(11)(12)(13). The apparent gastric location in our patient resulted in endoscopy as an appropriate initial intervention, in keeping with published algorithms (2,14).…”

Bowel injuries caused by ingestion of multiple magnets in children: a growing hazard

“…In four cases there were magnets and batteries [19,21,44] while different associated metallic objects were present in five cases [2,13,19,23,33]. With regard to the type of intervention to retrieve multiple magnets, explorative laparotomy was performed in 42 cases.…”

Ingestion of unusual foreign bodies and malrotation: a “perfect storm”

“…Several isolated cases have been described of either single or multiple magnet ingestion [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. In Japan for example, magnets are used to treated shoulder stiffness and incidental ingestion in small children is relatively common [15].…”