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Plastic bread clip impacted in gastrointestinal tract: a case report and review of the literature

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Abstract

A 79-year-old initially presented to her general practitioner for a 6-week history of nausea, intermittent abdominal pain and altered bowel habits. Colonoscopy was performed to investigate her symptoms and revealed a bread clip that was adherent to the sigmoid colon mucosa, unable to be retrieved. A CT scan was performed to exclude any associated complication, which showed no evidence of perforation or collection. A repeat colonoscopy by a more experienced endoscopist again failed to retrieve the bread clip. Eventually, the bread clip had to be removed through a laparotomy and colotomy. We performed a thorough literature review, which revealed 26 studies (totalling 38 cases) of bread clip ingestion. Many of the reported cases presented with abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, or perforation and carried a small mortality risk.

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Correspondence to Amos Nepacina Liew.

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Amos Nepacina Liew, Thomas Surya Suhardja, Asiri Arachchi and James Lim declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures followed have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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Liew, A.N., Suhardja, T.S., Arachchi, A. et al. Plastic bread clip impacted in gastrointestinal tract: a case report and review of the literature. Clin J Gastroenterol 12, 441–446 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-019-00962-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-019-00962-2

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