Impaction of Coin Battery in the Appendix

• Main Authors: Chang Bum Rim, Kyung Ho Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jin Publishing & Printing Co. 2019-07-01
• Series: The Korean Journal of Gastroenterology
• Subjects: Coin battery; mpaction; appendix; Appendectomy
• Online Access: http://www.kjg.or.kr/journal/view.html?uid=5476&vmd=Full&

Coin batteries are often used in daily life devices and can be easily available. Children can swallow coin batteries, resulting in the need to go to hospital, but this is rare in adults. Adults generally eliminate the swallowed coin battery from the digestive system, unless they have congenital structural abnormalities of the digestive system or complications, such as postoperative stenosis. In this case, a 31-year-old man swallowed three coin batteries, approximately 0.4 cm in diameter emergent endoscopy was unable to find any batteries embedded in the ingested food. An attempt was made to rinse out the batteries by bowel preparation. During the hospital stay, the patient complained of acute abdominal pain and fever. In the abdominal CT scan, impaction of the coin battery into the appendix was confirmed. The patient underwent a laparoscopic appendectomy to prevent appendiceal perforation.