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Gastric Foreign Body Removal
A Surgical Approach To The Stomach Of A Dog

For some background on this thirteen year old Lhasa Apso patient that had a rubber ball in its stomach for over eleven years, take a look in the X-Ray Department.  That's right!  Eleven years!  Finally, after the oral administration of Barium contrast material and a few radiographs, the evidence for a space occupying object in the stomach was evident.  But was it there when previous x-rays were taken?  See if you can visualize the rubber ball in the radiographs displayed, including one from three years ago.  

This patient was dismissed from the animal hospital the day after the gastric foreign body was  performed.  The happy dog was wagging her tail and the doctor got a big kiss from the grateful owner!  The owner recognized the sectioned ball as one the dog played with over ten years previously.  The sectioned ball is shown below; it was 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Gastric Foreign Body Removal In A Dog Click on an image to see a full size photo.
The midline abdomen is incised.	The stomach is identified.	Stomach is isolated for surgery.
The foreign body is grasped through the stomach wall.  The incision is made through the stomach wall and into the stomach cavity.	The corroded foreign object is identified, grasped with forceps and removed from the stomach.  There appeared to be no infection present.	The deep mucosal layer of the stomach is sutured with an inverting continuous suture.  In this image half of the mucosal layer has been sutured.
The outer muscular layer is sutured using simple interrupted sutures.  The stomach is highly vascular and heals rapidly.		The incision is closed with buried sutures.  The corroded rubber ball was 1 1/2 inched in diameter.  The lining of the stomach actually appeared to be normal.

See the x-rays that were taken to determine that surgery was indicated on this patient.