Medical Must-See: Toddler discovers downside of snacking on stones
The tiny patient entered the record books early, being the first reported case of geologically-induced incarceration of an umbilical hernia
Taste testing rocks and soil is synonymous with toddlerhood. But as one 22-month-old discovered, geological gastronomical experimentation can become a real pain in the umbilicus.
Two days after consuming dirt, stones and grass while playing outside, the young patient was admitted to hospital with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
She had a soft but distended abdomen, which was most tender around an umbilical hernia, according to US doctors writing in the Journal of Surgical Case Reports.
An abdominal X-ray and CT scan obtained in the ED revealed bowel obstruction, with radiopaque objects near the neck of the hernia.
