New Use of a Metal Detector

Abstract

I offer my recent observation on a new technique for following the passage of a coin through the digestive tract. Several months ago I was called by a distraught mother who informed me that her 7-year-old daughter had just swallowed a quarter. X-ray did reveal the coin located in the stomach. I reassured the family informing them that it would pass through in the next few days. After about two weeks of stool gazing and nonpassage the child was x-rayed again, and to my dismay I noted that the coin had not budged and less reassuringly sent them home to await passage of the pesky coin.