Abstract
Objective
To explore the surgical treatment experience of small intestinal foreign bodies (FBs) in children.
Methods
Retrospective analysis of clinical data of 27 patients with surgical treatment of small intestinal FBs from February 2019 to March 2024.
Results
There were 15 males and 12 females with an average age of 4.3 years, and an average duration of 6.9 days. Only 12 patients had a clear history of ingestion of FBs. All patients underwent preoperative X-ray examination, only 17 cases of metal FBS were found, and the remaining 10 cases of non-metallic FBS were accurately diagnosed by CT examination. All patients underwent surgical treatment, including 24 patients who underwent emergency surgery on the day of admission. Intestinal perforation was found in 21 cases (21/27, 77.8%). FBS included magnetic beads or squares, jujube pits, fecaliths, trichobezoar, super absorbent polymer (SAP) beads. FBS were removed from all 26 patients except 1 case who pushed the fecal stone causing obstruction into the colon. The average hospitalization time for patients was 12.4 days, and there were three cases of postoperative complications, including severe intra-abdominal infection, incision infection, and adhesive ileus. All patients had good prognosis during follow-up.
Conclusion
FBs in the small intestine of children often lead to intestinal perforation and can be accompanied by severe systemic infection, with atypical clinical manifestations. CT scanning can detect non-metallic FBs that cannot be visualized by X-ray, and assist in locating the position of the FBs. Surgical intervention is safe and effective, and can achieve good outcome.