Intragastric Foreign Body: A Case Study

Doumbia K *

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Sow H

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Traoré A

General surgery Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Sanogo SD

Hepato-gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Point G, Mali.

Dicko MY

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Tounkara MS

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Peliaba K

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Sissoko M

Centre Médical Inter Entreprise Kayes INPS, Mali.

Koné T

General surgery Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Konaté M

General surgery Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Diarra A

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Dembélé BT

General surgery Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Togo A

General surgery Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Konaté A

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

Diarra MT

Hepato-Gastroenterology Department, Teaching Hospital Gabriel Touré, Mali.

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.


Abstract

We report the case of a 25-year-old female patient seen in consultation for foreign body ingestion. The patient had swallowed a toothbrush for 10 days. The study aims to report and analyse a case of an intragastric foreign body, highlighting its diagnosis, management, and outcomes. After swallowing the brush, she consulted a health facility where a laxative and analgesic-based treatment was instituted, and she was reassured that the brush would come out in the stool. When she failed to see the brush in the stool and experienced additional abdominal pain, she consulted us for treatment. 

She had no previous medical or surgical history. Oesogastroduodenal endoscopy revealed a toothbrush, part of which was downstream of the pylorus. We attempted extraction using the diathermic loop. After several unsuccessful attempts, we observed the lower part of the brush embedded in the wall (or mucosa) of the descending duodenum (D2), with suspected perforation. We therefore proposed surgical management, which involved the extraction of a toothbrush by approaching the duodenal bulb, followed by epiplooplasty. Post-operative management was straightforward. Foreign body ingestion is most often accidental, as in our patient. Endoscopy remains the most appropriate extraction method, but if extraction by this route is not possible, surgery remains a good alternative.

Keywords: Toothbrush, Oesogastroduodenal endoscopy, surgery


How to Cite

K, Doumbia, Sow H, Traoré A, Sanogo SD, Dicko MY, Tounkara MS, Peliaba K, et al. 2026. “Intragastric Foreign Body: A Case Study”. Asian Journal of Research and Reports in Gastroenterology 9 (1):9-13. https://doi.org/10.9734/ajrrga/2026/v9i1200.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.