Intentional Pencil Ingestion - A Case Report of a Sharp Ingested Foreign Body.
- 1Riverside Community Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Riverside, CA.
- 2University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine, Riverside, CA.
Abstract
Treating foreign body ingestion in the emergency department (ED) is common; however, certain ingestions may be immediately life-threatening, depending on the object because sharp objects pose the greatest risk for gastrointestinal injury, including perforation and obstruction.1 This is a case of an adult male who arrived at the ED with suicidal ideation and reported ingesting a pencil two days prior. He presented with abdominal pain and hematochezia. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis identified the pencil in the distal ileum. The patient was admitted for surgical evaluation and monitoring. Remarkably, the pencil was passed spontaneously in the stool on hospital day six without signs of colonic perforation. This case illustrates how selected cases of high-risk foreign body ingestion may be managed conservatively, though close monitoring is critical given the risks of perforation, obstruction, or failure of progression.Topics
Abdominal pain, CT, foreign body ingestion, mental health.
Related
- Severe upper gastrointestinal corrosive injury following intentional muriatic acid (HCl) ingestion: a case report
- Fatal acute respiratory distress syndrome following intentional ingestion of glyphosate-surfactant herbicide (Glyfield®): a case report and literature review
- Severe fetal hemorrhage and maternal coagulopathy following intentional bromadiolone ingestion in late pregnancy: a case report
- Case Report: Intentional massive melatonin ingestion (450 mg) in an adolescent female
- Multiple ingested sewing needles presenting as chronic abdominal pain in a child: a case report
BibTeX
@article{gan2026intentional,
title = {{Intentional Pencil Ingestion - A Case Report of a Sharp Ingested Foreign Body.}},
author = {Francis Gan and Nathan Mercado and Abhijnya Gowder and Daniel Ng and Sassan Ghassemzadeh and John Costumbrado},
journal = {Journal of education \& teaching in emergency medicine},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5070/m5.53005},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/43011616},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Intentional Pencil Ingestion - A Case Report of a Sharp Ingested Foreign Body.
AU - Francis Gan
AU - Nathan Mercado
AU - Abhijnya Gowder
AU - Daniel Ng
AU - Sassan Ghassemzadeh
AU - John Costumbrado
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/31
JO - Journal of education & teaching in emergency medicine
DO - 10.5070/m5.53005
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/43011616
AB - Treating foreign body ingestion in the emergency department (ED) is common; however, certain ingestions may be immediately life-threatening, depending on the object because sharp objects pose the greatest risk for gastrointestinal injury, including perforation and obstruction.1 This is a case of an adult male who arrived at the ED with suicidal ideation and reported ingesting a pencil two days prior. He presented with abdominal pain and hematochezia. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis identified the pencil in the distal ileum. The patient was admitted for surgical evaluation and monitoring. Remarkably, the pencil was passed spontaneously in the stool on hospital day six without signs of colonic perforation. This case illustrates how selected cases of high-risk foreign body ingestion may be managed conservatively, though close monitoring is critical given the risks of perforation, obstruction, or failure of progression.Topics Abdominal pain, CT, foreign body ingestion, mental health.
SN - 2474-1949
ER -