title: A rare cause of gastric obstruction: Lighters swallowing.
abstract: The majority of swallowed foreign bodies are thrown spontaneously without causing complications in the digestive system. Multiple number of foreign bodies may be swallowed by psychiatric patients which delay diagnosis and increase the complication rate. Long and hard objects cannot pass through the pylorus, and may cause obstruction, ulceration, bleeding and perforation. Endoscopy is used as an effective method in such cases. An exploratory laparatomy was performed after unsuccessful endoscopic foreign object removal in a 28-year-old schizophrenic patient with gastric outlet obstruction due to multiple cigarette lighter swallowing. Ten lighters were removed from the stomach through gastrotomy and one more lighter was removed from the descending colon by milking through the anus. The aim of this paper is to discuss encountered difficulties in psychiatric patients who underwent surgery due to intake of foreign bodies.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ulas
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Aday
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tardu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Yagci
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Huseyin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yonder
keywords: Foreign body; schizophrenia; stomach