Swallowed opium packets: CT diagnosis

• DOI: 10.1007/s00261-007-9269-2
• Publication Date: 2007-07-03T16:30:20Z
• Authors: Morteza Sanei Taheri; Hossein Hassanian...; Shirin Birang; Hamid Hemadi; Makhtum Shahnazi; Amir Hossein Jalali; Madjid Shakiba; Vahideh Nahvi
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Radiography, Abdominal; Adolescent; Foreign Bodies; Opium; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans; Female; Drug Overdose; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

The aim of this study is to report our experience in diagnosis of the opium body packers with CT scan.For 12 cases who confessed to opium packet ingestion, we did an abdominal and pelvic CT scan without contrast and evaluated the presence, number and location of opium packets and also measured the density of packets in Hounsfield unit (HU).Mean age of our cases was 28.2 +/- 5.9 years (ranging 17-35 years). Eleven (91.6%) patients were male and only one case was female. In all patients, the packets were visualized in gastrointestinal (GI) lumen by CT scan. The mean of minimum HU was 163.8 +/- 19.6 and its maximum was 205.3 +/- 32.8. We had mortality in an 18-year-old female due to opium overdose.CT scan could be a suitable imaging modality in identifying opium packets, similar to that reported for cocaine and heroin.