50 Batteries Removed From 66 Year Old Woman By Surgeons
Bizarre/Strange
Friday 16th, September 2022
A 66 year old woman had 50 cylindrical batteries removed from her stomach and colon by surgeons at St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin.
The case report revels the woman passed five AA batteries shortly after admission which brought the total number of batteries ingested to 55.
An X-ray was performed after the woman presented herself at the hospital's emergency department, which showed "multiple batteries" located in her abdomen according to the case report that was published in September 2022's publishing of the Irish Medical Journal.
There was no sign of obstruction, perforation or damage to the structural integrity of the batteries, so a course of conservative management was pursued and the patient passed five batteries over the course of a week.
The other batteries, which included AA and AAA varieties, failed to progress in her digestive system, and she began to complain of abdominal pain and loss of appetite.
A decision was therefore made to perform surgery with a view to removing the objects, during which it was discovered that the patient’s stomach had swollen downward into the suprapublic area.
The surgeons removed a total of 46 batteries from her stomach, while another four that were located in her colon were “milked” into the rectum and removed “using an anal retractor and a long forceps”, the case report said.
The patient made an "uneventful recovery" following the procedure, it added.
The report also stated, "Ingestion of larger cylindrical batteries is less frequently encountered, hence no clear practice guidelines have been developed. Potential options for dealing with cylindrical battery ingestion include conservative management, endoscopic extraction, or surgical retrieval,".
"To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the highest reported number of batteries ingested at a single point in time,"
The report was authored by a team of radiologists and colorectal surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital.
The case report revels the woman passed five AA batteries shortly after admission which brought the total number of batteries ingested to 55.
An X-ray was performed after the woman presented herself at the hospital's emergency department, which showed "multiple batteries" located in her abdomen according to the case report that was published in September 2022's publishing of the Irish Medical Journal.
There was no sign of obstruction, perforation or damage to the structural integrity of the batteries, so a course of conservative management was pursued and the patient passed five batteries over the course of a week.
The other batteries, which included AA and AAA varieties, failed to progress in her digestive system, and she began to complain of abdominal pain and loss of appetite.
A decision was therefore made to perform surgery with a view to removing the objects, during which it was discovered that the patient’s stomach had swollen downward into the suprapublic area.
The surgeons removed a total of 46 batteries from her stomach, while another four that were located in her colon were “milked” into the rectum and removed “using an anal retractor and a long forceps”, the case report said.
The patient made an "uneventful recovery" following the procedure, it added.
The report also stated, "Ingestion of larger cylindrical batteries is less frequently encountered, hence no clear practice guidelines have been developed. Potential options for dealing with cylindrical battery ingestion include conservative management, endoscopic extraction, or surgical retrieval,".
"To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the highest reported number of batteries ingested at a single point in time,"
The report was authored by a team of radiologists and colorectal surgeons at St Vincent’s Hospital.
