Fish Bone Causing Perforation of the Intestine and Meckel’s Diverticulum

Abstract

Perforation of small bowel due to ingested fish bone is rare, the most common site is ileum and occasionally, it can involve the appendix and/or Meckel diverticulum. We report six patients who, developed bowel perforation after fish bone ingestion, four of them found to have rent in the ileum and two through Meckel’s diverticulum and presented with abdominal pain and localized peritonitis. All underwent surgical exploration and removal of the fish bone and closure of the small intestine/excision of the diverticulum. Foreign body ingestion should be kept in mind in suspicious cases, and laparoscopy is very important to diagnose such rare cases as they may commonly be missed by imaging.