Publication:

Silent steel-a case report of retained foreign body in abdomen

Foreign body insertions are seen in patients with a wide variety of backgrounds, ages and lifestyles. The incidence of colorectal foreign bodies is disproportionately higher in men. The earliest published report of a rectal foreign body insertion was in 1919 by Smiley. The typical age at presentation ranges from 20 to 90 years old, with a mean age of 44 years old. Here in our hospital a patient presented with the retained knife in abdomen for 8 months. A 30-year-old male patient who came to OPD with the history of self-insertion of a foreign body (kitchen knife) into his rectum due to cannabis induced psychosis (polyembolokoilomania) and had a retained foreign body for 8 months. After thorough clinical and radiological examination he had a finding of a metallic knife inside his Large Bowel without perforation and no signs of peritonitis. In view of difficulty in laparoscopic approach for removal, laparotomy and colotomy of descending colon made and retrieval of foreign body performed. Postoperative period was fair.