AB188. Endoscopic removal of accidently swallowed tooth brush by healthy male—a case report

Abstract: Swallowing of foreign body (FB) is a common presentation to emergency department. Most ingested FB pass spontaneously without intervention, however about 20% of FB swallowing cases require endoscopic or surgical removal. Toothbrush swallowing is rare and no spontaneous passage has been reported due its shape, but swallowed for tooth brushes found in esophagus or stomach, prompt removal either endoscopically or surgically is recommended to avoid complications. We report a case of a young healthy male who accidently swallowed a tooth brush, which was successfully removed in the theatre endoscopically under general anaesthetic using polypectomy snare. This is a case report of a 35-year-old healthy male who presented to emergency department claiming he had swallowed a tooth brush accidently. He had no other symptoms and he was able to swallow water. His examination was unremarkable with normal chest X-ray. Initially, he was also assessed by ENT team and no FB was seen in oropharynx and he was referred to general surgeons for endoscopy and FB removal. The patient underwent gastroscopy in theatre under general anaesthesia and toothbrush was noted in oesophagus with the head of the brush stuck at oesophago-gastric junction and the handle of toothbrush in stomach. the toothbrush was removed using polypectomy snare without any complications. Patient was discharged the next day. Despite having a difficult shape for a foreign body, this is possible to remove this type of FB through gastroscopy if done so in a timely matter, avoiding potential future complications.

Keywords: Swallowed tooth brush; accidently swallowed foreign body; a rare foreign body in stomach