Save the Children from Gastric and Intestinal Perforation Secondary to Small Magnet Ingestion by Educating Families with the Help of Pediatricians

Karjoo, Manoochehr; Dragnich, Alexander; Karjoo, Sara; Ann Warsi, Qurratul

doi:10.22038/ijp.2017.8263

Save the Children from Gastric and Intestinal Perforation Secondary to Small Magnet Ingestion by Educating Families with the Help of Pediatricians

Authors

¹ Pediatrician and Gastroenterologist Upstate Medical University, Syracuse New York USA.

² 4th year Medical Student, Upstate Medical University, USA.

³ Assistant Professor, Pediatric Gastroenterology, Johns Hopkins University & Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, USA.

⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, USA.

10.22038/ijp.2017.8263

Abstract

The ingestion of foreign bodies is a comprehensive problem affecting the pediatric population, especially under 5 years of age. The ingestion of 2 or more magnets may lead to their attraction over planes of intervening soft tissue with enough force to cause significant complications including obstruction, fistula formation or even perforation.
This case series report have documented the cases of 4 children age 2-9 years, who have experienced a variety of complications from magnet ingestion. Included are the cases of a 2 years old boy and 9 years old girl with bowel perforation, a 7 years old boy with mucosal erosion, and a 4 years old boy who underwent magnet retrieval before complications arose.

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