Surgical removal of a tea spoon from the ascending colon, ten years after ingestion: a case report.
BACKGROUND
The presentation of ingested foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal system is common in the emergency setting. The majority responds to conservative management and passes spontaneously; however, giant foreign bodies pose a management difficulty. We report a peculiar case of a giant foreign body (spoon) that presented very late after ingestion and the management of this presentation.


METHODS
A 30-year-old British white male barrister presented with abdominal pain 10 years after he swallowed a spoon that never passed spontaneously. His workup revealed the spoon lodged in his ascending colon. Laparoscopic retrieval was not feasible so a laparotomy was done for retrieval. He did well and went home with no complications.


CONCLUSIONS
Symptomatic giant ingested foreign bodies represent a management challenge sometimes and usually necessitate surgical intervention when all conservative means fail. We review the literature on management of giant ingested foreign bodies.
Deeba
Samer
S
Department of BioSurgery & Surgical Technology, Imperial College Healthcare, St. Mary's Hospital Campus QEQM Building, 10 Floor, South Wharf Road, London W2 1NY UK. s.deeba@imperial.ac.uk
Purkayastha
Sanjay
S
Jeyarajah
San
S
Darzi
Ara
A