An Unusual Cause of Vomiting and Dehydration in a Geriatric Patient Who Swallowed a Foreign Body—Ring

Abstract

The risk of morbidity and mortality is high in foreign bodies seen in geriatric ages. The diagnosis of foreign body ingestion is usually difficult in the absence of a suitable history, so patients may present with late clinical findings. Small foreign bodies can be seen on computed tomography as 88% of swallowed foreign bodies are radiopaque. A 75-year-old male patient with Alzheimer’s and dementia diseases swallowed a 2.4-cm ring as a foreign body, and subsequently, within days, clinical complications such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and dehydration were detected in the emergency room. The presence of a foreign body was detected in the computed tomography scan; it was treated with endoscopic treatment and removed successfully. We aimed to present this case because of the detection of the ring, which is a rare foreign body in the literature, in a geriatric patient who presented with late-stage clinical symptoms such as dehydration and its removal with a successful endoscopic procedure.

Cite this article as: Atayan Y, Yalcin M. An unusual cause of vomiting and dehydration in a geriatric patient who swallowed a foreign body—ring. Diagn Interv Endosc. 2023;2(1):24-26.