[Foreign body ingestion among prisoners]. / Ingestión de cuerpos extraños en reclusos.

The records of 261 prisoners who purposely ingested foreign bodies are analyzed retrospectively. The data include type, shape, and number of foreign bodies as well as localization, clinical repercussion, evolution of patients, and the treatment they received. Laparotomy was necessary in 41 cases (15.7%) due to severe complications like obstruction, hemorrhage or perforation. All of our patients operated on had an uneventful postoperative course, without mortality. In our series, there were patients with more than one episode of ingestion of foreign bodies and others who needed reoperation.