title: [Bodypackers syndrome. A case report and review of the literature].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the term Body packers we identify people who carry drugs hidden in their bodies especially on international flights. These event are constantly increasing all over the world. The accidental spontaneous opening of the drug packers is the major risk for patient's life, because the release cocaine inside the bowel can stir up the Body packers Syndrome. This eventuality is a medical surgical emergency that needs a wel timed diagnosis and a sudden treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report a case of a 31 years old Caucasian woman, admitted from Rome International Airport to the nearest Emergency Unit and then moved to our Department because of suspected epilepsy hiding a diagnosis of Body packers Syndrome in acute phase. When the diagnosis was made, the woman was submitted to a colonoscopy and ciecotomy, and fifty-three packets were removed. In intensive care any complication occurred after surgery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Body packing of drugs it's constantly a going problem. In Italy currently there aren't shared guide lines about the management of these patients. The international experience reports that in asymptomatic patients is enough a conservative treatment to help the spontaneous evacuation of packets but if the Body packers Syndrome is already present the best treatment is the surgical one. Quickness, accuracy and right use of radiology are the main factors to reach a correct diagnosis and to obtain a good result.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia d'Urgenza, Senologica e dei Trapianti, Cattedra di Chirurgia Generale, Università degli Studi "Tor Vergata", Roma. piero.rossi@alice.it
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manzelli
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quaresima
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Boi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simonetti
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Petrella
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003042:Cocaine; D003106:Colon; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D011859:Radiography; D013577:Syndrome; D014195:Travel
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine