title: Foreign bodies in the sigmoid colon of a psychiatric patient following self-mutilation: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The act of deliberate injury to one's own body without the help of others is a well-known phenomenon in psychiatric patients. Insertion of foreign bodies into one or more orifices is not uncommon but insertion into a body cavity or the gastrointestinal tract by self-inflicted injury is quite rare.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 32-year-old Ethiopian psychiatric patient presented with left lower abdominal pain of three months' duration following the insertion of foreign bodies via a self-inflicted wound in the left lower quadrant of his abdomen. Radiological evaluation demonstrated the presence of foreign bodies. A laparotomy revealed two metallic and three wooden materials in his sigmoid colon and a hole in his sigmoid that was tightly sealed with omentum. The foreign bodies were successfully removed, the hole was closed primarily, and our patient was discharged uneventfully.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case illustrates that a foreign body can be inserted into the colon through a self-inflicted wound in psychiatric patients, and patients may present months later without having developed generalized peritonitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, AAU, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. hailuwgs@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hailu Wondimu
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6720-4193
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Gebresellassie
mesh_terms: D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D012809:Colon, Sigmoid / Q000293:injuries*; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Case report; Foreign bodies; Gastrointestinal; Laparotomy; Patient; Psychiatric; Self-inflicted