Medical Must-See: Swallowed blister packs to blame for unexplained abdominal pain
Diagnosis could be challenging because of 'limited visibility' of blister packs on imaging, Swiss doctors said.
Accidental ingestion of medication blister packs could provide a rare explanation for abdominal pain without a clear cause, especially if cognition is impaired, say Swiss doctors.
The team, from Cantonal Hospital of St Gallen, described two cases of successful blister pack removal in patients who had no memory of swallowing the foreign bodies.
Their first patient, a 75-year-old man, presented to ED with acute-onset constant abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant and epigastric regions after taking three analgesics that morning.
He had a history of abdominal surgeries, an endovascular aortic repair for a ruptured aortic aneurysm and mild cognitive impairment.
