Toothpick perforates small bowel-mimicking diverticulitis

Ahmed A Fallatah; Hassan Mashbari; Hatoon Daghestani; Omar Mostafa; Nawaf Alshahwan; Ahmed Alburakan; Thamer Nouh

doi:10.1093/jscr/rjad511

Toothpick perforates small bowel-mimicking diverticulitis

J Surg Case Rep. 2023 Sep 18;2023(9):rjad511. doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjad511. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Ahmed A Fallatah^{1

2}, Hassan Mashbari³, Hatoon Daghestani¹, Omar Mostafa⁴, Nawaf Alshahwan¹, Ahmed Alburakan¹, Thamer Nouh¹

Affiliations

¹ Trauma and Acute Care Surgery Unit, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, King Saud University, P.O Box 2925 Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
² General Surgery Section, Department of Surgery, King Abdulaziz Hospital, Ministry of Health, P.O Box 3665 Jeddah 22421, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, P.O Box 6809 Jazan 82817-28204, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ College of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University, P.O Box 777 Albukairiyah 51941, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Bowel perforation is an emergency condition that requires critical thinking and readily intervention; nevertheless, on occasions, its presentation can be challenging to diagnose. Several etiologies could cause bowel perforation, including obstruction, mass, inflammation, ischemia, etc. On rare occasions, a foreign body could be the cause of perforation, which mandates a detailed history and focused review of the images when the patient's condition allows. We report a case of ileal perforation caused by an ingested wooden toothpick that was suspected on the CT images, which the patient has no memory of ingesting.

Keywords: CT scan; abdominal pain; foreign body; perforation; small bowel; toothpick.

Publication types

Case Reports