Surgical treatment in drug body packers

Endoscopic removal such as manual extraction of packages hidden in the rectum are still considered potentially dangerous practices and are therefore not recommended in relation to the risk of iatrogenic visceral perforation or intraprocedural packets breaking3; the risk of rupture together with the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American surgeon 2014-03, Vol.80 (3), p.E76-78
Main Authors: Covarelli, Piero, Burini, Gloria, Castellani, Elisa, Lombardo, Francesco, Caracappa, Daniela, Noya, Giuseppe, Rulli, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abdomen
Adult
Cocaine
Coma
Crack Cocaine - toxicity
Drug Trafficking - statistics & numerical data
Foreign Bodies - diagnostic imaging
Foreign Bodies - surgery
Heroin
Heroin - toxicity
Humans
Italy
Laparotomy - methods
Laxatives
Male
Mineral oils
Packaging
Poisoning
Risk Assessment
Sampling Studies
Stomach - diagnostic imaging
Stomach - surgery
Street Drugs - toxicity
Surgery
Tomography
Tomography, X-Ray Computed - methods
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult
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Summary:Endoscopic removal such as manual extraction of packages hidden in the rectum are still considered potentially dangerous practices and are therefore not recommended in relation to the risk of iatrogenic visceral perforation or intraprocedural packets breaking3; the risk of rupture together with the small load of accessible drug furthermore outweighs the endoscopy-related benefits. 3 Conservative management of asymptomatic body packers is based on the use of cathartics to accelerate intestinal transit; the patient is supposed to drink, or to assume through a nasogastric tube, 2 L/hour of polyethylene glycol. Other patients came to our attention in the same year with a history of body packing but were managed conservatively. [...]it appears, by our experience and a review of the international literature, that surgery plays a primary role in this emerging disease.
ISSN:0003-1348
1555-9823
DOI:10.1177/000313481408000303