Abdominal Imaging - Case Report

Acute abdomen caused by a small bowel perforation due to a clinically unsuspected fish bone

10.4261/1305-3825.DIR.3236-09.1

  • Eleni Drakonaki
  • Maria Chatzioannou
  • Konstantinos Spiridakis
  • George Panagiotakis

Received Date: 05.12.2009 Accepted Date: 27.03.2010 Diagn Interv Radiol 2011;17(2):160-162

We report the case of a 78-year-old woman with a three-day history of abdominal pain and vomiting. An abdominal plain film showed a distended small bowel loop and no signs of free intra-abdominal gas. An abdominal ultrasound revealed a mass containing a linear, hyperechoic structure. The mass was connected through a sinus tract to an adjacent aperistaltic small bowel loop. A laparotomy revealed a jejunal perforation and an omental granuloma containing a fish bone. Accidentally ingested foreign bodies should always be suspected in cases of acute abdomen, and ultrasonography remains a firstline examination tool for preoperative diagnoses of unsuspected foreign bodies and their complications.

Keywords: foreign bodies , ultrasonography , acute abdomen