© 2004 by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & British Society of Gastroenterology
GI SNAPSHOT
Management of swallowed razor blades—retrieve or wait and see?
Gastrointestinal Unit, University Hospital of Birmingham NHS Trust, Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak Hospitals, Raddlebarn Rd, Birmingham B15, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J R Butterworth
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Mytton Oak Rd, Shrewsbury SY3 8XQ, UK; j.r.butterworth@btinternet.com
Keywords: foreign body; gastrointestinal tract; razor blades
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A 16 year old boy with a long history of self harm was admitted for the third time in four weeks with a history of ingestion of a number of shaving blades (fig 1
). On previous occasions, endoscopic intervention with the use of an overtube under general anaesthesia had been successful in their safe retrieval. However, on the third occasion, a delay to endoscopy of 36 hours (due to a combination of late presentation and lack of access to the operating theatre) allowed the blades to progress beyond the pylorus into the small bowel, beyond the reach of a standard upper gastrointestinal endoscope (fig 2).
[in a new window] Figure 1 X ray showing the razor blades in the stomach.
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[in a new window] Figure 2 X ray showing the razor blades in the small bowel, beyond the reach of a standard upper gastrointestinal endoscope.
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How should this young man now be managed?
- Push enteroscopy with the use of an
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