Ingested toothpick retrieved through a lumbar approach: a case report

Ingested toothpick may cause severe complications if there is no intervention timely. Toothpicks that required surgical intervention often retrieved through exploratory laparotomy or laparoscopic exploration surgery under general anesthesia, while, those through lumbar approach have been rarely reported. Herein, authors report a case of ingested toothpick which removed through the lumbar surgical approach under local anesthesia and the patient has gained a considerable recovery.

A 57-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with distending pain in the right flank for more than 20 days. He had a history of accidental toothpick ingestion. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan and Color Doppler Ultrasound of the superficial tissue (right flank pain area) consistently revealed a linear lesion -corresponding to the toothpick- was located at the right flank next to the body surface. Surgery via lumbar approach was then successfully performed to retrieve the toothpick under local anesthesia. The post-procedural course was uneventful, and the patient was discharged on the third day after surgery, no complications were noted at the 18-month follow-up.

When a foreign body that causes perforation of the digestive tract remains for a relative long time (non-acute stage) and the perforation is close to the body surface, a local anesthesia surgery through the corresponding body surface may be a considerable choice.