Ingested Potassium Chloride Pills on Imaging Misdiagnosed As Foreign Bodies in the Stomach: An Insight on Radiopaque/Hyperdense Substances in the Gastrointestinal Tract

Foreign bodies are very common in the GI tract. Around 100,000 cases are reported each year in the United States. A total of 80% of those foreign body ingestions occur in the pediatric population. There are several reasons for foreign body impaction in the GI tract in adults. Psychiatric problems, anatomical abnormalities in the GI tract such as esophageal web, diverticula, stricture, and eating big food boluses are frequent causes of foreign body impaction in adults. Rarely do radio-opaque ingested materials appear as a foreign body in imaging studies. Such objects include several commonly used medications such as iron preparations, potassium chloride pills, amiodarone, spironolactone, bisoprolol, and lisinopril. Herein, we present one such case of potassium chloride pill ingestion, where it appeared as a foreign body in the stomach. However, on the endoscopic examination and repeat X-ray, the foreign body had been digested and disappeared.