[Radiopaque abdominal foreign bodies introduced by the enteral route. 4-year experience]

The aim of this work has been the comparison between the results found in literature and our experience with the introduction of radiopaque foreign bodies by enteral way into the abdomen. The kind of our patients, most of whom were in jail, the sufficient number of cases and the particularity of some of them have convinced us of the soundness of our experience and have persuaded us to briefly report it, with our observations and conclusions. The first thing we want to point out, on the basis of our study, is that the degree of radiopacity of a foreign body is more important than its dimensions as far as its visibility at X-ray examination is concerned. Another conclusive point we want to stress is that surgery is often needed to remove foreign bodies introduced by rectum, while most patients who ingest foreign bodies do not need surgery and expel what they have ingested, without complications, by rectal way.