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Case Report
Bread clip ingestion resulting in small bowel perforation: A case report
1 Surgical Registrar, General Surgical Department, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia
2 Surgical Fellow, General Surgical Department, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia
3 Consultant Surgeon, General Surgical Department, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia
Address correspondence to:
Hein Maung
185 Cooper Street, Epping, VIC 3076,
Australia
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Article ID: 100124Z06HM2023
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How to cite this article
Maung H, Chong A, Al-Habbal Y. Bread clip ingestion resulting in small bowel perforation: A case report. Case Rep Int 2023;12(2):26–29.ABSTRACT
Bread clip ingestion is an avoidable, all too common cause of an acute surgical abdomen. Patients present with various symptoms ranging from dysphagia, bleeding, perforation, and death with few cases successfully passing without causing significant damage. The patient in this case had gastrointestinal symptoms for over 2 months with associated weight loss, mimicking a time length of malignancy. The clip was lodged in the small bowel, which is often the case. This study presents an uncommon presentation of symptoms with evidence of the varying degrees of bread clip injury, preceding perforation. Plastic resists enzymatic breakdown in the gastrointestinal tract, and its unique shape contributes to the bowel wall getting caught in between its jaws, followed by dislodgment through peristalsis, and eventual perforation. Despite publicity in Australian news articles, manufacturers and supermarkets still utilize products with plastic bread clips and present an avoidable health hazard to patients in this country.
Keywords: Bread clip, Emergency laparotomy, SBO, Small bowel obstruction
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the theatre staff of Northern Hospital and the General Surgical Department for their contributions and support.
Author ContributionsHein Maung - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Andrew Chong - Acquisition of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Yahya Al-Habbal - Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guaranter of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2023 Hein Maung et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
