Self harm through foreign bodies ingestion – rare cause of digestive perforation

Abstract Self-harm is a rare pathology, often seen in psychiatric patients but more frequently in the penitentiary environment. Of the many possible forms of self-harm, foreign bodies (FB) ingestion is by far the most usual in the Romanian prison environment. The paper aims to present the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects arising as a consequence of the digestive tract perforations consequent upon foreign bodies ingestion; a number of 45 cases which occurred over a 7-year period (2003-2010) in "Rahova" Penitentiary Hospital, were analyzed. We also examined the surgical particularities of case resolution. Abbreviations: FB = foreign bodies, EEA = end-to-end anastomosis