The hazards of vinyl glove ingestion in the mentally retarded patient with pica: new implications for surgical management.
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OBJECTIVE: To report experience with the treatment of complications of vinyl glove ingestion in mentally retarded patients with pica. DESIGN: A retrospective case series. SETTING: Two university-affiliated hospitals. PATIENTS: Five mentally retarded patients, 4 with a history of pica, who were admitted for the management of complications resulting from the ingestion of vinyl gloves. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Type of complication, treatment and operative outcome. FINDINGS: The patients ranged in age from 26 to 46 years. One patient died while awaiting surgical consultation of massive gastrointestinal bleeding from a large gastric ulcer caused by a vinyl glove bezoar (VGB). Four VGBs were removed surgically. Endoscopic removal was difficult or impossible because the gloves had become hardened and matted. CONCLUSIONS: VGB should be considered in institutionalized mentally retarded people with a history of pica when they present with gastrointestinal symptoms. VGBs should be removed directly by laparotomy, gastrotomy or enterotomy. Endoscopic removal is not recommended. (+info)
Surgical treatment of oesophageal obstruction after ingestion of a granular laxative.
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A case of oesophageal obstruction after ingestion of a granular laxative in a 91-year-old man is presented. There was no predisposing oesophageal disease. The severity of obstruction prevented endoscopic clearance and the patient required gastrotomy and manual disimpaction of the lower oesophagus. (+info)
Small bowel obstruction and covered perforation in childhood caused by bizarre bezoars and foreign bodies.
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BACKGROUND: Small bowel obstruction with perforation is an unusual and rare complication of bezoars. OBJECTIVE: To describe our use of emergency laparotomy to treat intestinal obstruction caused by bizarre bezoars. CONCLUSIONS: An aggressive surgical approach to intestinal obstruction in the pediatric disabled or mentally retarded population is recommended. (+info)
An intragastric trichobezoar: computerised tomographic appearance.
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A 26-year-old lady presented with a history of abdominal pain and distension since two months. The ultrasound examination showed an epigastric mass, which was delineated as a filling defect in the stomach on barium studies. The computerised tomographic scan showed a gastric mass with pockets of air in it, without post-contrast enhancement. This case highlights the characteristic appearance on computerised tomography of a bezoar within the stomach, a feature that is not commonly described in medical literature. (+info)
Esophageal and small bowel obstruction by occupational bezoar: report of a case.
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BACKGROUND: Phytobezoar may be a cause of bowel obstruction in patients with previous gastric surgery. Most bezoars are concretions of poorly digested food, which are usually formed initially in the stomach. Intestinal obstruction (esophageal and small bowel) caused by an occupational bezoar has not been reported. CASE PRESENTATION: A 70-year old male is presented suffering from esophageal and small bowel obstruction, caused by an occupational bezoar. The patient has worked as a carpenter for 35 years. He had undergone a vagotomy and pyloroplasty 10 years earlier. The part of the bezoar, which caused the esophageal obstruction was removed during endoscopy, while the part of the small bowel was treated surgically. The patient recovered well and was discharged on the 8th postoperative day. CONCLUSIONS: Since occupational bezoars may be a cause of intestinal obstruction (esophageal and/or small bowel), patients who have undergone a previous gastric surgery should avoid occupational exposures similar to the presented case. (+info)
Cotton Bezoar--a rare cause of intestinal obstruction: case report.
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BACKGROUND: Bezoars usually present as a mass in the stomach. The patient often has a preceding history of some psychiatric predisposition. Presentation could be in the form of trichophagy followed by trichobezoar (swallowing of hair leading to formation of bezoar), orphytobezoar (swallowing of vegetable fibres). Rapunzel syndrome is a condition where the parent bezoar is in the stomach and a tail of the fibres or hair extends in to the jejunum. Presentation as intestinal obstruction due to a bezoar in the intestine without a parent bezoar in the stomach is rare, therefore we report it here. CASE REPORT: A 35 year old lady tailor with a previous history of receiving treatment for depression on account of being infertile- years after her marriage, presented to the surgical emergency department with features of acute intestinal obstruction. Exploratory laparotomy and enterotomy revealed a cotton bezoar in the terminal ileum without a parent bezoar in the stomach. She was managed by resection of the affected segment of the ileum and end-to-end anastomosis of the bowel. In the postoperative period the patient gave a history of ingesting cotton threads whenever she was depressed. CONCLUSION: Presence of cotton bezoar is rare and an intestinal bezoar in the absence of parent bezoar in the stomach is still rarer. (+info)
Phytobezoar: an uncommon cause of small bowel obstruction.
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Phytobezoars are an unusual cause of small bowel obstruction. We report 13 patients presenting with 16 episodes of small bowel obstruction from phytobezoars. Eleven patients had previously undergone surgery for peptic ulceration (eight truncal vagotomy and pyloroplasty). A history of ingestion of persimmon fruit was common and the majority of cases presented in the autumn when this fruit is in season. One phytobezoar causing obstruction at the third part of the duodenum was removed by endoscopic fragmentation, while an episode of jejunal obstruction was precipitated by endoscopic fragmentation of a gastric bezoar. Twelve patients underwent surgery for obstruction on 15 occasions, with milking of the phytobezoar to the caecum performed in ten, enterotomy and removal in four and resection in one patient. Associated gastric phytobezoars were found in two cases and multiple small bowel bezoars in two other cases. These were removed to prevent recurrent obstruction. Phytobezoar should be considered preoperatively as a cause of obstruction in patients with previous ulcer surgery. Wherever possible milking of a phytobezoar to the caecum should be performed. Careful assessment for other phytobezoars should be made. Prevention of phytobezoars is dependent upon dietary counselling of patients by surgeons after gastric resection or vagotomy and drainage for peptic ulcer. (+info)
Urinary ascites and anuria caused by bilateral fungal balls in a premature infant.
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A case is reported of anuria and urinary ascites secondary to bilateral ureteropelvic obstruction by fungal balls. Management consisted of bilateral nephrostomy drainage with local irrigation with amphotericin B, and systemic antifungal treatment without surgery. Aspiration by paracentesis was performed for the urinary ascites and continuous drainage through an 8 Fr pig tail catheter for the urinoma. The literature on renal fungus balls in neonates and infants is reviewed. (+info)