We describe an 81-year-old man presenting to the emergency department with an unwitnessed syncope. All initial examinations and investigations were non-diagnostic. He was admitted for observation, during which he developed type 1 respiratory failure and mild fever. Computerised tomography of pulmonary angiography (CTPA) was carried out to rule out pulmonary embolism. This revealed a foreign bod...

A 69-year-old man underwent an emergency laparoscopic procedure after the acute appendicitis diagnosis has been established. Laparoscopic exploration showed inflamed appendix and perforation of terminal ileum with a swallowed part of the wooden toothpick. The treatment consisted of typical laparoscopic appendectomy and laparoscopic removal of the foreign body, followed by laparoscopic closure o...

Two cases of intracranial penetration of a plastic or wooden chopstick via the optic canal are described. CT scans showed the chopsticks as linear hypodense structures in the suprasellar cistern contiguous with the optic canal. In one case, MR imaging was performed, which clearly depicted the foreign body and adjacent brain structures. Although they are extremely rare, transorbital intracranial...

The authors report the successful surgical removal of a foreign body (7 x 1 cm wooden stick) from the right atrial of a 8 year-old child 77 days after a transfixing chest trauma caused by falling over a fence. The clinical presentation was infective endocarditis confirmed by the presence of an intraatrial mass at echocardiography. The postoperative course was uneventful. At 6 months follow-up, ...

Intra-orbital wooden foreign bodies pose a significant challenge for clinicians as they are uncommon and difficult to diagnose due their unique characteristics. Surgery is usually recommended the presence of body can potentially induce severe complications, such diplopia, proptosis, loss vision. However, specific symptoms associated with these not yet well understood may, in some cases, take se...