Summary

Intentional ingestion of a foreign body in adults is a rare clinical presentation. This case is one of a 27-year-old Sudanese man who presented having swallowed a ballpoint pen intentionally. Clinical examination and plain chest radiograph exhibited no signs indicative of perforation with only a raised C reactive protein identified on blood tests. Subsequent gastroscopy revealed that the pen had simultaneously perforated the duodenum at both D1 and D3 requiring removal via a laparotomy. The patient fully recovered and was discharged 2 weeks postoperatively following psychiatric input.