Blunt abdominal injury resulting in a belly full of candy after a motocross accident, a case report

• Main Authors: Floris B. Poelmann, Frank F. A. IJpma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2020-12-01
• Series: BMC Surgery
• Subjects: Abdominal injury; Gastric perforations in children
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12893-020-00997-0

Abstract Background Blunt traumatic gastric perforations in children are rare. Delayed diagnosis will lead to abdominal contamination and may result in morbidity and even mortality. We present a case of an adolescent who sustained blunt abdominal injury in a motocross accident and presented with remarkable hyperdense spherical shaped structures on the computed tomography (CT). Case presentation A 15-year-old boy arrived at the emergency room with an acute abdomen after a motocross accident. A CT scan of the abdomen demonstrated free air and hyperdense round structures in the stomach, pelvic cavity and right paracolic gutter. During emergency laparotomy a traumatic gastric perforation was sutured, a splenic rupture was treated with a vicryl mesh and multiple spherical food scraps were removed from the abdomen. After surgery, the boy clarified that he had eaten a whole bag of colorful and spherical shaped candy just before the accident. Conclusions Traumatic gastric rupture in children is rare but physicians should be aware of this diagnosis in case of blunt abdominal trauma with free air on the CT scan. Gastric contents, in this case candy, can present as hyperdense shaped structures in the abdominal cavity on the CT scan.