Foreign body ingestions in a schizophrenic patient

ABSTRACT

The topic of foreign body ingestion has received extensive coverage in the areas of surgery; emergency medicine and pediatrics. A subset of this topic; the intentional ingestion of foreign bodies; however; is much less common; and involves subtleties in evaluation and management not usually seen in accidental ingestions. Here; we report a case of ingestion of a rolled; metal tuna can lid in a male prison inmate previously diagnosed with depression and paranoid schizophrenia. Following evaluation by the surgical team; the foreign body was removed by laparotomy and the patient was discharged back to the prison without complication. In many cases; ingestions of this type involve a command hallucination ordering the patient to swallow the foreign body. Interestingly; the patient in the present case reported auditory hallucinations commanding him not to swallow the can lid