Foreign bodies in the stomach are usually ingested by children under the age of 5 years. persons with dentures and alcoholics or mentally disturbed individuals. Many patients will be asymptomatic and well be brought in by parents with a history
of
having swallowed something. The ingested foreign bodies are mainly coins, particles of metal, fish bones and etc. A toothpick in the stomach has been rarely reported in an alert adult.
Here, we present a case of a patient with toothpick stuck in the stomach, that she did not realize she had swallowed. It was removed by an endoscopy without any complications.
A 57 year-old woman was admitted to Uijongbu St. Mary's hospital because of epigastric pain for 10 days The pain persisted constantly in the epigastrium and aggravated after meals. She had an episode of vomiting during these days. A yellowish
white,
thin, stiff material 1.5 cm long was found by an endoscopic examination stuck at the less curvature of the antrum. It was removed by the endoscopic biopsy forceps and was proved to be an wooden toothpick, sharp at both ends, with a length of 6.6
cm
and
a diameter of 0.2 cm. There was a small ulcer at the site of the removed toothpick and mild bleeding from the ulcer. The epigastric pain was relived after the removal of the toothpick. She did not realize she had swallowed the toothpick. Four
days
later, a follow-up endoscopic examination revealed closed ulcer and no bleeding. She was discharged without complications.
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