Endoscopy 2001; 33(5): 472
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-14254
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

A Pill Turned into a Foreign Body in a Patient in a Hurry

M. Tuncer 1 , Y. Erzin 1 , A.  F.  Celik 1 , U.  Korman 2 , N.  Mandel 1 , E.  Oktay 1
  • 1 Dept. of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2 Dept. of Radiology, Division of Gastroenterology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
31 December 2001 (online)

Figure 1A 55-year-old woman was referred to our endoscopy unit with a 1-month history of continuous retrosternal pain, dysphagia, and odynophagia located in the upper half of the esophagus. She had been suf- fering from these symptoms after swallowing three pills at once because of a troublesome headache. As she was in a hurry, she did not notice that one of them was still in its plastic cover. On barium meal examination, the pill was seen as a sharply radiolucent, round, filling defect (indicated by black arrowhead) in the upper thoracic esophagus. It was removed by endoscopy.

Figure 2The size of the plastic-covered pill, 2 cm in diameter.

A. F. Celik, M.D. 

Dept. of Internal Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology
Cerraphasa Medical Faculty

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