The management of accidental wire brush bristle ingestions: A combat military perspective

There has been an increasing recent trend in accidental ingestion of wire barbeque grill brush bristles. Because of the unique nature of the foreign object, both the diagnosis and management of this injury are new realms in everyday trauma without clearly established protocols. We present the case of an accidental wire bristle ingestion resulting in oesophageal perforation; with insight from recent military trauma data, we managed this patient conservatively without surgical exploration. In the subset of asymptomatic patients with negative imaging, this divergence from operative management is safe with close observation and follow-up.