Children have a strong thirst for knowledge about everything in the outside world, and the way to express this thirst for knowledge is often to put things into the mouth to experience, so it is easy to swallow them by mistake. If the corrosive and traumatic objects are swallowed, the harm to the child will be great. Recently, the digestive endoscopy center of Shandong Maternal and Child Health Hospital received another case of a child who swallowed a foreign body.
Swallow the magnet for 8 hours
Children seeking medical attention for abdominal pain
5-year-old Haohao (pseudonym) developed persistent pain in the upper abdomen 8 hours ago. He rushed to the provincial hospital in Shandong Province and underwent an abdominal X-ray examination, which showed a foreign body in the stomach. The patient was removed under endoscopic treatment, and the patient was urgently transferred to the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Center of Shandong Maternal and Child Health Hospital.
Director Gao Yu received the patient, took a look at the film, and based on past experience, tended to consider things like magnets. After clearing the medical history and improving the auxiliary examination, Director Gao Yu quickly formulated a treatment plan and decided to implement endoscopic treatment under anesthesia.
“The stomach is perforated,
Operation may be needed later! “
Hao Hao (pseudonym) was under intravenous anesthesia. Professor Gao Yu was carefully operating the mirror. A string of metal was seen on the side of the greater curvature of the gastric body. One end was free and the other end was inserted into the stomach wall. When the foreign body on the side of the stomach wall is clamped with rat-tooth forceps, it can be clearly seen that the stomach wall has been perforated. Director Gao Fengyu said with emotion: If it is later, the consequences will be more serious!
(magnetic beads under gastroscope)
Then, the end of the lens continued to search in the stomach cavity, and saw a separate silver foreign body in the fundus of the stomach. Director Gao took out the foreign body through the endoscope and used titanium clips to clamp the already The perforated stomach wall took less than ten minutes to complete, and the operation ended successfully.
(The stomach wall is perforated under gastroscopy)
“It really is a magnet” Everyone carefully looked at the discolored foreign object that was taken out.
(magnetic beads removed)
Part of the magnet enters the small intestine
Endoscope cannot be removed
After the operation, the abdominal X-ray was completed again. Unexpectedly, another string of magnets had entered the small intestine and could not be taken out through the endoscope. Fortunately, the string of magnets attracted each other. , no pressure on the intestinal wall tissue was seen.
“Take some medicines that promote excretion and hope that this string of magnets can be excreted, otherwise it will still have to be removed surgically,” Professor Gao Yu explained to his family.
(abdominal X-ray shows magnetic beads in the intestine)
“Every time he defeces, I carefully pull it out” the child’s mother said anxiously, and finally, on the 8th day of hospitalization, the magnet was discharged.
(abdominal X-ray without magnetic beads)
Why are magnets so dangerous?
Which things are easy for children to swallow?
Magnets and magnetic beads, also known as “Bucky balls”, are spherical strong magnets, which are loved by children because of their small size and changeable shape combinations, but also increase the intake of foreign objects in children risks of. After swallowing multiple or multiple magnetic beads at intervals, the magnets are likely to attract each other in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract, compressing the separated stomach wall, intestinal wall or other tissues.The blood can lead to necrosis, perforation, fistula formation, intestinal obstruction, and even induce volvulus, leading to abdominal infection, toxic shock, and life-threatening patients.
Most children have no obvious early symptoms after ingesting a foreign body with magnetic beads, or mild symptoms within hours to weeks, followed by persistent or intermittent abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. etc., and even more intermittent abdominal pain for up to 6 months.
Due to the young age of the patients, most of them cannot accurately describe the medical history, and some parents delay diagnosis and treatment after learning that the patient has swallowed the magnetic beads, thinking that it will be excreted normally like other foreign bodies.
Director Gao Yu reminded parents again that most foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract occur in children, most commonly fishbone, coins, button batteries, and toys. Children cannot express themselves correctly, and if there are no obvious gastrointestinal symptoms, it is easy to lead to missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis, resulting in serious consequences. Parents should improve their awareness of care, avoid children’s exposure to such dangerous items, correct the bad habit of children casually putting sundries in their mouths, and prevent the occurrence of foreign bodies in the digestive tract from the root cause. (Text/Edited by Liu Zhu/Xu Xiao)