A piercing story: ingestion of a grill wire brush bristle

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundThis paper reports the dangers of an ingested metal wire bristle from a barbeque brush, which resulted in oesophageal perforation.Case reportA 49-year-old gentleman presented to the emergency department with foreign body sensation and odynophagia after having consumed barbequed lamb for lunch. Computed tomography of the neck demonstrated a thin linear opacity near the thoracic inlet. The object could not be visualised on emergent rigid oesophagoscopy. Subsequent neck exploration enabled localisation of a retropharyngeal abscess and a thin wire bristle from a barbeque brush.ConclusionAlways consider the utensils employed in food preparation as a differential in ingested foreign bodies. Thin wire objects have a high propensity to migrate and result in complications, hence urgent intervention is vital.