Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 16, 2023; 11(14): 3256-3260
Published online May 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i14.3256
Intragastric fish bones migrate into the liver: A case report
Mu-Gen Dai, Jing-Jing Zheng, Jie Yang, Bin Ye
Mu-Gen Dai, Bin Ye, Department of Gastroenterology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China
Jing-Jing Zheng, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China
Jie Yang, Department of Infectious Disease, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Dai MG, Zheng JJ, Yang J, and Ye B designed the research, performed the research, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Zhejiang Province Administration Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 2020ZB305.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bin Ye, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Chief Physician, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, No. 289 Kuocang Road, Lishui 323000, Zhejiang Province, China. 408252097@qq.com
Received: October 9, 2022
Peer-review started: October 9, 2022
First decision: January 17, 2023
Revised: January 29, 2023
Accepted: April 7, 2023
Article in press: April 7, 2023
Published online: May 16, 2023
Processing time: 219 Days and 4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

A foreign body in the digestive tract is a common disease in the clinic. However, it is rare for a foreign body to migrate into the liver. Most patients are diagnosed before or after perforation of the digestive tract. Laparoscopic removal of intrahepatic foreign bodies is an effective treatment method.

CASE SUMMARY

A 55-year-old male patient was admitted to the hospital due to fever for 3 d, in addition to pain and discomfort in the right side of his waist. After admission, abdominal computed tomography showed a foreign body in the liver, and gastroscopy did not indicate obvious erosion or ulcers. The patient then underwent laparoscopic surgery. During the operation, an abscess was seen near the gastric antrum and between the caudate lobes of the liver. It was approximately 30 mm × 31 mm × 23 mm in size. The abscess was cut open, and a fish bone was found inside. The fish bone had penetrated the liver and was successfully removed. It was confirmed that the fish bone migrated from the stomach to the liver.

CONCLUSION

Although intrahepatic foreign bodies are rare, they should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible to avoid serious complications such as intrahepatic abscess, which may lead to liver resection and even life-threatening events.

Keywords: Foreign body, Intrahepatic, Migrate, Stomach, Case report

Core Tip: Foreign bodies migrating into the liver are rare, but they may lead to liver resection and even life-threatening events. They should be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. We report a patient with a fish bone that migrated from the stomach to the liver and was successfully removed by laparoscopic surgery in the early stage. Early management is a prerequisite to ensure treatment efficacy.