Detection of an accidentally implanted wooden foreign body using CT: case report and literature review

Regardless of advancement in imaging techniques, the recognition of vegetative foreign bodies in the abdomen remains a difficult task. Simple radiography and computed tomography will ignore radiolucent foreign bodies. Here, we report the case of a 34-year-old man with a penetrating injury to the abdomen caused by a radiolucent wooden foreign body that was not initially detected. However, imaging can be specific and reliably diagnostic when performed in the appropriate clinical setting. Multidetector computed tomography is frequently underused but has proven useful for the assessment of retained wooden foreign bodies in the abdomen.