An interesting journey of an ingested needle: a case report and review of the literature on extra-abdominal migration of ingested Foreign bodies

Swallowed foreign bodies encounter a major problem especially in children, but fortunately they mostly do not cause any related complication and are easily passed with the stool. In this paper, an interesting journey of a needle is presented. A 20-year old female admitted to our emergency service after she had swallowed a sewing machine needle, which is initially observed in the stomach in the plain abdominal radiography. During the follow-up period, the needle traveled through bowels, and surprisingly was observed in the left lung on 10th day of the follow-up. It was removed with a thoracotomy and pneumotomy under the fluoroscopic guidance. The postoperative period was uneventful and the patient was discharged from the hospital on the day 5. We also review the literature on interesting extra-abdominal migrations of swallowing foreign bodies

Christmas surprise: The unnoticed journey of a needle—from bronchus to intestine

SummaryWe report on a 14-year-old Arabian girl who suddenly developed coughing after having aspirated a needle used for fixing her headscarf. The chest X-ray showed the needle located in the right main bronchus. However, subsequent flexible bronchoscopy could not detect any foreign body. A further X-ray of the abdomen showed the needle now behind the diaphragm. Gastro-oesophageal endoscopy was also uneventful. On the third day, the needle was excreted naturally. Astonishingly, this journey of the wandering needle from bronchus to intestine was not realised by the patient at any time. Our case highlights that children and adolescents should be warned repeatedly about the risks of putting needles between their teeth. It also reminds the physician to diagnose aspirated foreign bodies as early as possible to prevent wandering and migrating, which may induce new risks and unnecessary diagnostic and therapeutic procedures