Ouch: A bottlecap lodged where it should not be lodged. Photo / NZ Medical Journal
Warning: Graphic photos
It might be a quick and easy way to crack open your favourite beer but removing a bottle top with your teeth could also fast-track you to hospital.
The New Zealand Medical Journal has today released information on a unique series of cases involving three men who ended up in the emergency room in Canterbury, after accidentally swallowing bottle tops while drunk.
The men were separate cases - not known to each other - and none remembered ingesting the tops.
“It is suspected that ingestion took place during the rapid consumption of excess amounts of alcohol,” the article states.
“Interestingly, our three cases follow the trend of published cases [globally] in that this is a presentation exclusively of males.”
Photos with the article - by authors Asim Abdulhamid, Heidi Yi-han Su and Steven Leslie Ding - are not for the faint-hearted; with the shiny objects shown embedded into internal flesh.
The first case involved a 30-year-old Christchurch man who turned up with a complete acute oesophageal obstruction after ingesting a bottle top.
Medical staff attempted to remove the top using a roth net - an endoscopic retrieval device - but failed. It was later pulled into an extraction hood and removed with a scope.
The patient did, however, face a complication: A minor oesophageal erosion.
The second patient was a 38-year-old man who had to stay in hospital after turning up two days after an accidental ingestion.
He suffered a 10mm gastric ulcer, and had the object removed with a 20mm braided snare with heat.
The last patient was a 55-year-old man. The bottle top he had ingested had managed to get pushed into his stomach and staff were unable to retrieve it due to the presence of food.
A repeat endoscopy was needed, after fasting, to safely remove the object with a roth net.
The incidents all took place during a three-month period last year in Canterbury, which is among the regions in New Zealand identified as having a binge-drinking culture.
“Christchurch has the second highest weekly alcohol intake per week by region. The adverse consequences are realised at the hospital front door, with 4 to 5% of emergency department presentations relating to alcohol consumption,” the article read.
“Inadvertent ingestion and impaction of bottle caps is rare as a phenomenon, but can be life-threatening owing to the sharp edges.”
The article acknowledged that foreign body ingestion was a common thing to see in emergency rooms worldwide, but not so specifically for bottle tops that had been swallowed.
The man harassed children, neighbours, tradesmen and blocked roads with his wheelchair.