Ingestion of magnets: innocent in solitude, harmful in groups

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Abstract

Foreign body ingestion is frequent in children and generally associated with little morbidity. However, some foreign bodies are innocent when ingested as a single object, but may have harmful effect if numerous. We report a 9-year-old girl who swallowed 5 magnets, causing acute intestinal obstruction. At laparotomy, 2 magnets were found in the cecum and 3 in the transverse colon, attracting each other and clasping a segment of ileum in between, causing a complete obstruction of the small intestine. If numerous magnets are ingested, particular concern is advised, and if signs of intestinal distress develop, prompt laparotomy to prevent serious gastrointestinal complications should be performed.

Section snippets

Case report

A 9-year-old girl presented with chief complaint of consistent abdominal pain with crampy episodes for 1 day. She had been repeatedly vomiting over 2 days and stated her last bowel movement 2 days ago. On admission, the girl appeared in relative good condition, her abdomen was slightly distended, and in the middle-right side, a mass was palpable, associated with localized guarding, rebound tenderness, and positive Rovsing sign; bowel sounds were slightly increased. Laboratory studies showed

Discussion

Foreign body ingestion is a commonly encountered problem in pediatrics, and in 80% to 90% of cases, the foreign body passes the intestinal tract spontaneously once the ingested object has entered the small intestine [2]. Ingestion of magnets and its consequences have scarcely been discussed in the literature. Those magnets described in our case report were small enough to pass the intestinal tract after ingestion. Yet, because numerous magnets had been ingested, with a slight time interval in

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