Case Report: Don't chew the fufu : a case report of suspected drug body stuffing

Article Article scientifique Rapport de cas Case Report: Don't chew the fufu : a case report of suspected drug body stuffing eng 2019-07-22 2019 author Jimenez Naya Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 693498 author Tran Nguyen Toan 0000-0001-7134-7878 Division of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland.,Australian Centre for Public and Population Health Research, Faculty of Health, University Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia. 841910 Services communs de GSI (GSIA) author Poletti Pierre-Alexandre Alois Department of Radiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 34563 Département de radiologie et informatique médicale (RADIO) author Platon Alexandra Department of Radiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 554893 Département de radiologie et informatique médicale (RADIO) author Meach Francesco Division of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 537870 author Juillerat André Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 671488 author Getaz Laurent 0000-0002-8724-861X Division of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 649346 Département de santé et médecine communautaire (MECOM) author Wolff Hans 0000-0002-4978-2176 Division of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, Switzerland. 45574 Département de santé et médecine communautaire (MECOM) 1156 10.12688/f1000research.19966.2 33633839 2046-1402 PMC7901499 https://f1000research.com/articles/8-1156/v2 Background:Intrabody concealment of illicit substances is a common practice in the trafficking chain. Body packing is a technique used in drug trafficking that consists of deliberately ingesting many drug pellets. Body stuffing consists of precipitously swallowing packets of substances, which are smaller and more fragile than body-packing pellets, for concealment from law-enforcement officers in anticipation of impending search or arrest. Therefore, body stuffing is particularly dangerous due to the rupture risk of the loosely wrapped drug packets, which could lead to substance intoxication or even death. Case presentation: This article reports the case of a young man who was taken by law enforcement authorities to our Emergency Department for investigation of suspected body stuffing. Although the patient denied the facts, the initial reading of the computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed the presence of multiple images compatible with drug pellets, which were mostly in the stomach. The pellet findings were more consistent with body packing than body stuffing as initially suspected by the police. However, upon admission to our secured inpatient ward for clinical surveillance of pellet evacuation, the patient denied again having ingested such pellets, and declared that he only ate 'fufu'. Fufu is a traditional food of central and western Africa consisting of a starchy preparation compacted by hand into small balls. Fufu balls are usually swallowed without chewing to allow a sensation of stomach fullness throughout the day. Considering the fufu intake history, a careful reassessment of the imaging confirmed the presence of food content. Conclusions:This case study offers an example of suspected intrabody concealment of illicit substances, which turned out to be false positive due to fufu. It illustrates the importance of a history of food intake that could bias the interpretation of CT scan images. Bodystuffing Bodypacking Fufu/foofoo/foufou Prison Radiology pitfalls Dewey 613 Dewey 616.0757 Dewey 616 62 Département de radiologie et informatique médicale 227 56 Département de médecine 221 64 Département de santé et médecine communautaires 22A false 469 Radiologie des urgences 800 F1000Research 8 003e39ea-ff79-4e68-8164-299d817c0d3e Article (Published version) Public Article_scientifique_from_europePmc.pdf 1079702 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 [Version 2 ; peer review : 2 approved] 807c5aabc54bd6568a92bd80746f0f4cc851a1e5b5d59968d30ce2c3ba7ef90b openAccess Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de radiologie et informatique médicale Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de médecine Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de santé et médecine communautaires

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Jimenez, Naya