“Plastic Bag Clip Discovered in Partial Colectomy Accompanying Proposal for Phylogenic Plastic Bag Clip Classification”, 2011-09-05 (; backlinks):
A plastic bag clip was incidentally found anchored in the mucosa of a partial colectomy specimen 2.6 cm proximal to a ruptured diverticulum for which the patient, a mentally retarded, diabetic, 58-year-old man, underwent surgery. Over 20 cases of accidental ingestion of plastic bag clips have been published. Known complications include small bowel perforation, obstruction, dysphagia, gastrointestinal bleeding, and colonic impaction.
Preoperative diagnosis of plastic clips lodged in the gastrointestinal tract is frustrated due to radiographic translucency. This occult threat could likely be prevented by the design of gastrointestinally safe, plastic-bag-sealing devices. Presented here is a morphologically based classification of bag clips as a possible guide for determining the most hazardous varieties and to aid further discussions of their impact on health.
…A 58-year-old white male with a history of mental retardation, diabetes, kidney stones, and hyperlipidemia entered the emergency room with complaints of fever, dizziness, vomiting, chills, and increased difficulty in breathing.
People older than 60 years of age who have either partial or full dentures seem to be at particular risk for the accidental ingestion of these devices. In 5 cases, the patient was known to be toothless. As the population ages, small bowel perforation secondary to ingestion of such clips may occur with increasing frequency.
The call has been made for elimination or redesign of the clips to prevent their ingestion, make them less likely to hook into the mucosa (possibly by employing a spherical design), have them made out of digestible material, or simply incorporate radio-opaque compounds in the plastic to enable their identification in the gastrointestinal tract by conventional radiography. The path of eradication has already been taken in the UK, where plastic clips have been replaced by tape for safety reasons.