Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]
Background: Intrabody concealment of illicit substances is a common practice in the trafficking chain. Body packing is a technique used in drug trafficking that consists of deliberately ingesting many drug pellets. Body stuffing consists of precipitously swallowing packets of substances, which are s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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F1000 Research Ltd
2021-01-01
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| Series: | F1000Research |
| Online Access: | https://f1000research.com/articles/8-1156/v2 |
| _version_ | 1819295046384484352 |
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| author | Naya Jimenez Nguyen Toan Tran Pierre-Alexandre Poletti Alexandra Platon Francesco Meach André Juillerat Laurent Getaz Hans Wolff |
| author_facet | Naya Jimenez Nguyen Toan Tran Pierre-Alexandre Poletti Alexandra Platon Francesco Meach André Juillerat Laurent Getaz Hans Wolff |
| author_sort | Naya Jimenez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Intrabody concealment of illicit substances is a common practice in the trafficking chain. Body packing is a technique used in drug trafficking that consists of deliberately ingesting many drug pellets. Body stuffing consists of precipitously swallowing packets of substances, which are smaller and more fragile than body-packing pellets, for concealment from law-enforcement officers in anticipation of impending search or arrest. Therefore, body stuffing is particularly dangerous due to the rupture risk of the loosely wrapped drug packets, which could lead to substance intoxication or even death. Case presentation: This article reports the case of a young man who was taken by law enforcement authorities to our Emergency Department for investigation of suspected body stuffing. Although the patient denied the facts, the initial reading of the computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed the presence of multiple images compatible with drug pellets, which were mostly in the stomach. The pellet findings were more consistent with body packing than body stuffing as initially suspected by the police. However, upon admission to our secured inpatient ward for clinical surveillance of pellet evacuation, the patient denied again having ingested such pellets, and declared that he only ate ‘fufu’. Fufu is a traditional food of central and western Africa consisting of a starchy preparation compacted by hand into small balls. Fufu balls are usually swallowed without chewing to allow a sensation of stomach fullness throughout the day. Considering the fufu intake history, a careful reassessment of the imaging confirmed the presence of food content. Conclusions: This case study offers an example of suspected intrabody concealment of illicit substances, which turned out to be false positive due to fufu. It illustrates the importance of a history of food intake that could bias the interpretation of CT scan images. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:35:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c190c1bfdc4441e2a8bfe0e687b1341a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-1402 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T04:35:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | F1000Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c190c1bfdc4441e2a8bfe0e687b1341a2022-12-21T17:15:12ZengF1000 Research LtdF1000Research2046-14022021-01-01810.12688/f1000research.19966.254207Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]Naya Jimenez0Nguyen Toan Tran1Pierre-Alexandre Poletti2Alexandra Platon3Francesco Meach4André Juillerat5Laurent Getaz6Hans Wolff7Department of General Internal Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDivision of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDepartment of Radiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDepartment of Radiology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDivision of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDepartment of General Internal Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDivision of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandDivision of Prison Health, Department of Community Medicine, Primary Care and Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, 1205, SwitzerlandBackground: Intrabody concealment of illicit substances is a common practice in the trafficking chain. Body packing is a technique used in drug trafficking that consists of deliberately ingesting many drug pellets. Body stuffing consists of precipitously swallowing packets of substances, which are smaller and more fragile than body-packing pellets, for concealment from law-enforcement officers in anticipation of impending search or arrest. Therefore, body stuffing is particularly dangerous due to the rupture risk of the loosely wrapped drug packets, which could lead to substance intoxication or even death. Case presentation: This article reports the case of a young man who was taken by law enforcement authorities to our Emergency Department for investigation of suspected body stuffing. Although the patient denied the facts, the initial reading of the computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed the presence of multiple images compatible with drug pellets, which were mostly in the stomach. The pellet findings were more consistent with body packing than body stuffing as initially suspected by the police. However, upon admission to our secured inpatient ward for clinical surveillance of pellet evacuation, the patient denied again having ingested such pellets, and declared that he only ate ‘fufu’. Fufu is a traditional food of central and western Africa consisting of a starchy preparation compacted by hand into small balls. Fufu balls are usually swallowed without chewing to allow a sensation of stomach fullness throughout the day. Considering the fufu intake history, a careful reassessment of the imaging confirmed the presence of food content. Conclusions: This case study offers an example of suspected intrabody concealment of illicit substances, which turned out to be false positive due to fufu. It illustrates the importance of a history of food intake that could bias the interpretation of CT scan images.https://f1000research.com/articles/8-1156/v2 |
| spellingShingle | Naya Jimenez Nguyen Toan Tran Pierre-Alexandre Poletti Alexandra Platon Francesco Meach André Juillerat Laurent Getaz Hans Wolff Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] F1000Research |
| title | Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full | Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_fullStr | Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_full_unstemmed | Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_short | Case Report: Don’t chew the fufu: a case report of suspected drug body stuffing [version 2; peer review: 2 approved] |
| title_sort | case report don t chew the fufu a case report of suspected drug body stuffing version 2 peer review 2 approved |
| url | https://f1000research.com/articles/8-1156/v2 |
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