title: Hidden attraction: a menacing meal of magnets and batteries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Magnet and button battery ingestions are increasingly common, and can result in significant morbidity. Timely identification of hazardous foreign body ingestions can be difficult in non-verbal and non-disclosing children.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aim to present a case that demonstrates some of the challenges around identifying and correctly locating magnets and batteries, and the importance of prompt identification and removal.
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe an older child with the covert ingestion of multiple magnets and batteries, with magnets that attracted across the stomach and a loop of jejunum. Mild symptoms and signs resulted in a delayed diagnosis and serious consequences. Radiographs suggested a gastric location of the foreign bodies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health care workers should consider the possibility of battery or magnet ingestions in children with vomiting and abdominal pain, even when well-appearing. Like esophageal batteries, multiple gastrointestinal magnets and combined magnet-battery ingestions can cause significant morbidity, and prompt identification is important. Providers should ask verbal children for ingestion histories, and consider radiographs when symptoms are atypical or persistent. Like esophageal batteries, gastrointestinal magnet-battery ingestions should be removed promptly to prevent complications. Caregivers should supervise or limit the use of toys that include magnets and batteries.
authors.affiliation: Seattle Children's Hospital and University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA.
authors.forename: Julie C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Karen F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Javid
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology; D002648:Child; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D011211:Electric Power Supplies / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007579:Jejunal Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D059346:Magnets / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011859:Radiography; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D014456:Ulcer / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology