Abdominal pain, blood in the stool just because of a habit that many people often have

Abdominal pain, black stools with fresh blood, on April 26, Mr. D.D.H went to Huu Nghi Hospital (Hanoi) for examination. Through endoscopy, doctors discovered in the anorectal tube of the patient a foreign body.

The foreign body was later determined to be a 3cm diameter pill with a plastic cover intact with sharp knife-like edges. The two sides of the pill were inserted into the anorectal canal, causing two punctures.

On the abdominal X-ray and CT scan, there was a picture of a foreign body penetrating the anorectal canal, but fortunately, there were no lesions such as effusion or inflammation.

The patient swallowed a pill with a plastic shell with sharp edges like a knife

Exploiting the history, the patient remembered that, nearly 2 days from the time of medical examination, he had bought medicine to drink. After drinking, he felt a little entangled, slightly choked but not too uncomfortable, he had black stools and blood.

The next day, the patient still felt normal, only slightly uncomfortable in the abdomen, had blood in the stool. Patient H. had absolutely no doubt that the abdominal pain and bloody stools came from the intact pill that had been stuck from the previous pill.

Dr. Hoang Viet Dung – Head of General Surgery, Huu Nghi Hospital, said that he had to take the pill in the anorectal canal, using a specialized cover with elastic ability to cover the foreign body, avoiding The sharp edges of the tablet injure the anorectal canal and bring the foreign body out of the body gently and safely.

After the procedure, the patient continues to be monitored at the hospital.

On the same day, Hung Vuong General Hospital (Phu Tho) also gave emergency treatment to a female patient in a state of epigastric and right iliac fossa pain from 4 am on the same day.

Before admission, the patient was completely normal and did not have any gastrointestinal diseases.

The patient was assigned to undergo a CT scan of the abdomen and suddenly showed a rod-shaped foreign body, 21mm long, penetrating the anterior wall of the stomach, the outer tip of the foreign body touching the anterior abdominal wall.

As soon as the laboratory results are available, the patient is transferred to emergency surgery to remove the foreign body.

The bamboo toothpick pierced the stomach, reaching the anterior wall of the abdomen

CKI doctor Dang Thanh Hai – Director of Hung Vuong Hospital said: “The treatment of patients should prioritize removing foreign bodies and treating damage to the digestive system. The final option after consultation was to use laparoscopic surgery to remove the foreign body and suture the gastric perforation.”

After surgery, the patient’s vital signs were stable and good contact. When he was fully awake and was told by the doctor that the foreign body removed was a bamboo toothpick, the patient did not remember when he had swallowed the toothpick.

This is one of the very common cases for people, especially people who have a habit of using toothpicks when going to bed.

Dr. Hoang Viet Dung also added that in the General Surgery Department of Huu Nghi Hospital, he received treatment for many patients who choked and swallowed foreign objects such as fish bones, toothpicks, and pills with their shells intact. ..

In which there are many cases of foreign bodies causing complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, esophageal perforation, small bowel perforation, colon perforation… causing blood loss, peritonitis, and death.

Doctors warn that if the gastrointestinal foreign body is not detected early and treated, it will cause the risk of bleeding, intestinal perforation, intestinal obstruction, abdominal abscess, more serious can cause dangerous sepsis. life-threatening.

Especially foreign body stuck in the anorectal canal is an emergency condition and should be treated promptly and properly by highly qualified doctors.

Surgery to remove foreign bodies and patch the anorectal canal is a difficult technique because the rectal area is narrow, the tear is easy to become inflamed and sticky, easy to get infected, difficult to heal, and has a high risk of sequelae.

Mr. H.’s case was very fortunate because when it was discovered that the anorectal canal had not formed abscesses and the pill was still in its shell, it was safely removed.

Therefore, to prevent possible unfortunate accidents, experts recommend that people should not have the habit of sleeping with toothpicks. For the elderly, whose memory is no longer clear, taking medicine must be supervised by children to avoid taking the whole pill without knowing…

N. Huyen