Magnet ingestion in children—a potentially sticky issue?

Pressure necrosis of the intervening The second patient was an 8-yearold who presented with right ileac fossa tenderness and clinical signs and symptoms of acute appendicitis. Accidental ingestion of magnetic foreign bodies, which was once rare, has become more common owing to the increasing availability of toys with magnetic elements.1 A solitary ingested magnet can pass through the gut spontaneously.2 However, ingestion of multiple magnets or a single magnet along with another metallic part can cause them to stick to each other with forces of up to 1300 G,3 compressing the intervening bowel and leading to subsequent fistulation and perforation.4 Since 2006, there have been numerous alerts and recalls from Canadian and US consumer product safety commissions issued in relation to children and the sale of toys with small ingestible magnetic parts.5 The occurrence of two such cases within such a short span of time in a small region in the UK raises concern, since no such alerts have been issued nationally in the UK.