Clinical Analysis of Patients with Gastrointestinal Tract Perforation Caused by Fish Bone

Abstract

We report on 10 case sdiagnosed as having fish bone perforation of the gastrointestinal tract at our institution between 1999 and 2011. The mean age was 70 ± 10 years, and there were eight and two cases, respectively, with the acute inflammation type and chronic inflammation type of perforation? In nine cases, the fish bone could be detected on the CT obtained at admission. The site of perforation was the stomach in one case, small bowel in four cases, and sigmoid colon in two cases. The site of perforation could not be identified in the two cases of with the chronic inflammation type of perforation. In the four cases in which the CT revealed free air in the abdomen, surgery was performed and the fish bone was identified and removed from the abdominal cavity. In two of the five cases with the acute inflammation type of perforation in whom the CT did not show free air, the fish bone and site of perforation could not be identified. In one case that was managed conservatively, the fish bone was found to have disappeared in the examination conducted after a month. It is important in cases of fish bone perforation of the gastrointestinal tract to decide the therapeutic strategy according to the abdominal symptoms and findings on CT.