Fish hook & line ingestion

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 15:48:26 GMT

Exactly. If you're able to get at it to manouvre it out, you can advance it round in a curve, and get it out that way

Wynne

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Alet Engelbrecht — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 12:03:16 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]b) backward facing barbs, so a good tug could (if the hook has penetrated ) leave a nasty hole in the stomach wall![/quote]

Actually smaller than one would think! I am no fisherman, but I played with the hook a little afterwards, hooking it into an object and testing the stomach tube method and it came out without too much damage. I read some notes on IVIS.org where they said that the mucosal damage is fairly minor and will heal quickly. The following pertains to oesophageal location:

Fish hooks have usually penetrated the mucosa (and sometimes the muscular tunics); you will often have to use rigid equipment to carefully force the tip of the hook back out of the mucosa. A small hole is left, but there are very seldom any complications. Mike Willard

Edit: We are talking about reversing the hook out, not just pulling it, though.

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Hannah Wynne Richards — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:00:48 GMT

My worries would be;

a) linear fb

b) backward facing barbs, so a good tug could (if the hook has penetrated ) leave a nasty hole in the stomach wall!

Wynne

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Richard Huddart — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:46:49 GMT

We had one the other day. The fisherman gave the line a good tug (that's what you do when catching a fish after all), then snipped the line neatly off nice and short. You can leave them and in the past they have all gone right through for me, but we elected to remove this one via gastrotomy after seeing where it was on the x ray and it was well embedding in the cardiac sphincter. Took a bit of finding for my colleague but has done very well happily.

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Kate Richardson — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 20:13:29 GMT

[quote user="Alet Engelbrecht"]I remembered a colleague once saying to thread the line through a stomach tube and gently dislodge it, [/quote]

Top tip!!!

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Virginia Campbell — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 16:54:12 GMT

[quote user="mariette asselbergs"]Thanks for the idea of feeding the line through a stomach tube, clever and probably very useful![/quote]

+1!

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

mariette asselbergs — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 16:10:11 GMT

Thanks for the idea of feeding the line through a stomach tube, clever and probably very useful!

Mariette

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Thomas Johnson — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 15:49:37 GMT

I wouldn't be too worried if it was just the hook, feeding small pieces of cotton wool can help carry them through the GI tract, but with that length of fishing line I would really worry about it developing a linear foreign body so would have operated to remove it.

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Alet Engelbrecht — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 11:07:27 GMT

Thanks Rob. I had the endoscope on standby, but as the dog ate her evening meal just before swallowing the hook, it would have been quite messy. I remembered a colleague once saying to thread the line through a stomach tube and gently dislodge it, which worked - but I reckon more by luck than anything else. I would have been hesitant to exlap as well, but was wondering whether cutting the line at the mouth would not have led to a linear fb?

Re: Fish hook & line ingestion

Rob Loxley — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 01:12:59 GMT

[quote user="Alet Engelbrecht"]What is the correct course of action in this case? [/quote]

You could try endoscopy but it can be like finding a needle in a haystack (sounds like you found it). I'd not go for immediate exlap if endoscopy not available, but monitor for problems - IME these hooks have passed through without problem.

Main thing is have a good chat with the owner re the options!