title: Bamboo skewer perforation of the bowel: computed tomography appearances.
abstract: A 25-year-old Chinese woman presented with a painful left-lower-quadrant abdominal mass. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a dense forked foreign body within an extraluminal mass. A 2.5 cm bamboo skewer surrounded by inflamed omentum was found at laparotomy. Different CT densities of bamboo skewers were obtained when exposed to air, water and 2% Gastrografin in an in vitro experiment. Awareness of the possible variations in appearances of wooden foreign bodies in and around the bowel may aid their CT diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. wcgpeh@hkucc.hku.hk
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Peh
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Helpert
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000328:Adult; D012809:Colon, Sigmoid; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology