Severe abdominal pain, hospitalized with intestinal perforation due to swallowing intact pill

Mr. VTK (56 years old, living in Long An) was hospitalized with severe abdominal pain due to an abdominal infection after unknowingly swallowing an intact pill.

Taking the medical history, the family said that while taking the medicine, he accidentally swallowed the pill with the sharp plastic shell intact without realizing it. Not long after that, he started to have severe abdominal pain, accompanied by nausea. The family immediately took him to the emergency room at Xuyen A Long An General Hospital. At the Emergency Department, the doctors quickly conducted a clinical examination and performed paraclinical tests.

On June 17, specialist doctor Nguyen Vu An - Head of the General Surgery Department, Xuyen A Long An General Hospital, said that doctors suspected this was a case of perforated hollow organ. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor ordered a CT scan of the abdomen, the image showed a radiopaque foreign object penetrating the intestinal wall.

Doctors said this was an extremely dangerous surgical condition that could be life-threatening if not diagnosed and treated promptly. The patient was immediately transferred to the operating room to remove the foreign object and suture the hole.

During the surgery, the exploration showed that the ileocecal valve area was hard and inflamed, surrounded by many pseudomembranes, with a small hole and a foreign object right in the cecum. The doctor opened the hole in the cecum about 3 cm from the ileocecal valve to remove the foreign object, then carefully sutured the hole, the foreign object was determined to be a pill with its shell intact.

After a week of treatment at the General Surgery Department, the patient's health gradually stabilized, no more abdominal pain, dry surgical wound, good appetite, was discharged to return home and had regular check-ups as advised by the doctor.

The pill was removed from the patient's dressing.

PHOTO. BSCC

Be careful when using medication to avoid stomach pain and unwanted side effects.

Dr. An said that foreign bodies in the digestive tract are one of the common emergency situations in hospitals. Foreign bodies can be fish bones, coins, bottle caps, dentures or food residues. The most common is a pill with its hard shell intact.

"This is a very dangerous situation, because the hard-shelled pill will not dissolve, and the sharp edges of the pill will scratch and damage the esophageal mucosa. More dangerously, the pill can continue to move down the digestive tract and cause perforation of the stomach, small intestine, large intestine, etc. The consequences are inflammation, bleeding, and even abdominal infection. If not detected and treated promptly, this condition can lead to peritonitis, septic shock, and even death," Dr. An emphasized.

Depending on the type of foreign object and the time after swallowing the foreign object, the symptoms and severity vary. However, the basic symptoms include feeling stuck in the throat, difficulty swallowing, pain when swallowing, inability to eat or drink, vomiting, nausea, especially when eating and drinking, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, burning pain behind the sternum, severe abdominal pain when there are symptoms of a foreign object causing a perforation of a hollow organ, bloating, nausea, constipation when there are complications of intestinal obstruction...

Through the above case, Dr. An recommends that people need to be careful when using drugs. For the elderly with poor eyesight, there should be supervision by relatives or medical staff. In case of accidentally swallowing the medicine shell, you need to go to a medical facility immediately so that doctors can examine, diagnose and have timely treatment. Absolutely do not handle it at home, do not apply folk remedies because it can make the condition worse.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dau-bung-du-doi-nhap-vien-phat-hien-bi-thung-ruot-do-nuot-vien-thuoc-con-nguyen-vo-185250617095655791.htm