[Perforation of the sigmoid caused by ingestion of foreign body]

Dating from October 1987 to January 1995 we have observed 24 patients who swallowed an extraneous object. Tree of them underwent a surgical operation whereas the remaining 21 were monitored endoscopically. Our team use to operate when the extraneous object, for its shape or dimension, comes to a stop along the intestine, causing a potential of existent complication. In 2 of the 3 cases above mentioned, the diagnosis came out from a abdomen x-ray which put into evidence a clothes peg stopped at level with the first jejunal ansa and an open pin which had performed an ileal ansa. As far as concerns the third case, we were compelled to operate without a preoperative diagnosis as the patient, mentally disabled, swallowed a sharpened, not x-rayed extraneous object (a toothpick). When swallowed, a toothpick usually causes lesions in the higher stretch of the digestive system. It is very difficult to spot the toothpick position for it slack x-opacity, even when the lesion caused by it is clearly visible. The sigma perforation, caused by the swallow of an object, rarely happens. Authors have reported a case to be pointed out for its pathogenetic originality.