Treatment of gastric phytobezoars with Coca-Cola(®) given via oral route: a case report

BACKGROUND: A 43-year-old female patient presented with a chief complaint of upper abdominal pain. As her complaints had lasted for 1 month, an upper gastrointestinal system endoscopy was performed and discovered a bezoar in the stomach. CASE PRESENTATION: The bezoar was quite hard and light green-yellow in color. Pathological examination revealed phytobezoar. The patient was hospitalized and given oral Coca-Cola(®) Zero for seven days at a dose of 500 mL three times daily. CONCLUSION: The upper gastrointestinal system endoscopy performed at the end of 7 days showed that the phytobezoar had softened and become smaller. The phytobezoar was broken into pieces with biopsy forceps and washing was applied, so the phytobezoar pieces could pass through the pylorus. The patient was discharged after the procedure without problem.