Surgical removal of swallowed Miller-Abbott tube.

The complications resulting from gastrointestinal intubation were recently reviewed and supplemented by the papers of Chaffee 1 and Pool. 2 The complications reported include: sinusitis and otitis media; esophageal stricture; laryngeal obstruction; knotting of the tube; rupture of esophageal varix; ruptured viscus, including esophagus, stomach and small bowel; inability to withdraw the balloon-tipped tube; breakage of the mercury-filled bag, and coiling of the tube through the pylorus, duodenum and gastrointerostomy stoma, necessitating surgical removal. A review of the literature disclosed no report of a swallowed Miller-Abbott tube, as occurred in this case. REPORT OF CASE W. W., a Negro man aged 35, was admitted to the Cook County Hospital on Sept. 26, 1949 with epigastric discomfort and rapidly appearing distention of the abdomen, usually following meals. There had been five previous admissions for symptoms of a duodenal ulcer which had followed a severe attack of diarrhea in 1937. Medical management