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QJM Advance Access originally published online on June 12, 2007
QJM 2007 100(7):461; doi:10.1093/qjmed/hcm046
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Odd behaviour in the airport arrivals lounge—what is the diagnosis?

Dr. S.T.C. Peake, Dr. A.C. Church and Dr. S.W. Dubrey

Hillingdon Hospital, London, UK.

A 43-year-old male returning from 1 week in Nigeria was noticed to be behaving in a strange manner by officials at London Heathrow airport. The patient, clearly agitated, was profusely sweating and disorientated. Customs screening procedures were carried out, including a urine test, which was positive for cocaine. He was immediately transferred to hospital for medical attention.

A chest radiograph identified multiple, well-defined objects within the gastric air bubble. Within 12 h of admission, he had become increasingly cardiovascularly unstable, with tachycardia, hypertension and agitation, requiring transfer to the Coronary Care Unit with suspected cocaine toxicity. His condition continued to rapidly deteriorate, despite medical treatment. An emergency laparotomy was performed, during which 89 packets of cocaine were removed from the stomach, small and large bowel.

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This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/7/461    most recent
hcm046v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
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Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Peake, S.T.C.
Right arrow Articles by Dubrey, S.W.
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Right arrow Articles by Dubrey, S.W.
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