Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2025 Mar 23;17(3):e81060.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.81060. eCollection 2025 Mar.

Emergency Laparoscopic Removal of an Ingested Fishbone Perforating the Stomach After Endoscopy: A Case Report

Norio Tomono  1   2 , Naohisa Niiro  3 , Yasuhiko Fujita  4   5 , Teruyoshi Amagai  6   7
Affiliations
Case Reports

Emergency Laparoscopic Removal of an Ingested Fishbone Perforating the Stomach After Endoscopy: A Case Report

Norio Tomono et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

A 70-year-old female who presented with epigastric pain of two days' duration was reported. Her multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) images showed peri-gastric fat stranding on MDCT, corresponding to the extra-gastric wall inflammation due to gastric perforation. Laparoscopic surgery was successfully performed to remove the extra-gastric foreign body and repair the perforation with the lesser omentum. To the best of our knowledge, the literature review showed that this is the 10th case of gastric perforation due to a foreign body treated by laparoscopy. The fat stranding is considered indicative of gastric perforation, and laparoscopy must be prepared when gastroscopy fails to remove and save the gastric perforation.

Keywords: endoscopy; fishbone; gastric perforation; laparoscopy; multi-detector computed tomography (mdct).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. The Ethics Committee of Kagoshima Tokushukai General Hospital issued approval 3011. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) images of a fish bone-like structure and extra-gastric fat stranding showing inflammation of the stomach wall
The marks included in this figure are as follows: Thick Arrow: a linear fish-bone-like abnormality extending from the anterior wall of the gastric antrum (A) to the outside of the gastric wall (B), representing a high-density structure; Thin Arrow (A, B): thickening of the stomach wall in the antrum; Triangle (B): extra-gastric fat stranding.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Gastroscopic images
This picture reveals the pin-hole appearance of the ulceration (A), and no foreign body was detected in the gastric mucosal layer (B).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Appearance of stomach penetrated foreign body seen through laparoscopy
A white foreign body (arrow) is visible outside the stomach's outer layer. There is also swelling, and yellow-spotted abscesses were seen around the foreign body.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Appearance of removed fishbone
The foreign body removed from the stomach through laparoscopy was a fish bone, 37 millimeters long.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Removal of foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract in adults: European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) clinical guideline. Birk M, Bauerfeind P, Deprez PH, et al. Endoscopy. 2016;48:489–496. - PubMed
    1. Fishbone foreign body ingestion with gastric impaction and intestinal micro-perforation in an adult female: a case report. Dupont DH, Umejiego LM, Satoskar S, et al. Cureus. 2024;16:0. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Laparoscopic removal of an ingested fish bone that penetrated the stomach and was embedded in the pancreas: a case report. Mima K, Sugihara H, Kato R, et al. Surg Case Rep. 2018;4:149. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Laparoscopic diagnosis and extraction of an ingested fish bone that penetrated the stomach: a case report. Zhang Z, Wang G, Gu Z, et al. Medicine (Baltimore) 2019;98:0. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Foreign body: a sewing needle migrating from the gastrointestinal tract to pancreas. Dal F, Hatipoğlu E, Teksöz S, Ertem M. Turk J Surg. 2018;34:256–258. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources