A Case of Foreign Body of the Gallbladder

Mitsuru Yokota, Michio Okabe, Kazuyuki Kawamoto, Tebun Paku, Yasuo Yoshida, Tadashi Ito and Keizo Ogasahara

Kurashiki Central Hospital

We report a rare case of a foreign body in the gallbladder. A 66-year-old woman was found during a hepatic workup in computed tomography (CT) to have a gallbladder wall perforation due to a metal foreign body. A side from cesarean section and uterine myoma surgery, the woman had no history of epigastric surgery. Blood tests on admission showed no inflammation, and no abnormal abdominal findings were seen. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed no evidence of foreign body exposure. In cholecystectomy, we observed the gallbladder and gastroduodenal walls, but found no inflammation or foreign body. A 15-mm-long metal wire pierced the gallbladder mucosa. The woman was discharged without complication on post operative day 9. Although we could not precisely identify the route to the gallbladder, we speculated that she had somehow imbibed the metal foreign body by mistake, after which it penetrated the duodenal wall.

Key words
gallbladder, foreign body

Reprint requests
Mitsuru Yokota Department of Surgery, Kurashiki Central Hospital
1-1-1 Miwa, Kurashiki, 710-8602 JAPAN

Accepted
September 16, 2009

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