Surgical approach to body packing.
Rooh-Allah Yegane1, Mohammad Bashashati, Esmail Hajinasrollah
1Department of Surgery, Loqman-Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Yeganeh33_r@yahoo.com
Diseases of the Colon and Rectum
|March 11, 2009
Summary
Surgical intervention is necessary for a small percentage of individuals carrying drugs internally (body packers) who present with severe symptoms or complications. This approach is generally safe and effective for managing complex cases.
Area of Science:
- Medical toxicology
- Surgical management
- Emergency medicine
Background:
- Body packing, the internal concealment of illicit drugs, typically involves medical management.
- A subset of body packers requires surgical intervention due to complications or severe toxicity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare surgical and nonsurgical management strategies for symptomatic body packers.
- To identify predictors and outcomes of surgical intervention in body packing cases.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 45 body packing patients treated between April 2004 and March 2007.
- Comparison of clinical characteristics and outcomes between surgically and nonsurgically managed patients.
Main Results:
- Nine patients (20%) underwent surgical intervention.
- Surgically treated patients had a higher number of drug packets and total drug volume, longer duration from ingestion to admission, and more severe symptoms.
- Indications for surgery included resistant toxicity and symptomatic cocaine/heroin mixture packing.
- Surgical procedures were generally uncomplicated.
Conclusions:
- Surgical intervention is indicated for body packers with persistent, unresponsive toxicity, gastrointestinal obstruction/perforation, or symptomatic cocaine packing.
- Nonsurgical management is appropriate for the majority of body packers.
