Rectal Perforation in Infant by Thermometer

Abstract

MUCH IS KNOWN about injury and perforation of the rectum from various causes. However, exceptionally little has been written about injury to the rectum by the universally used thermometer,^1-4 and this entirely in the European literature. This author has not found a single reference to intraperitoneal perforation by a thermometer. Therefore, the following case report of intraperitoneal perforation by thermometer in an infant is submitted. Report of a Case On Dec 26, 1958, at 8 am, a hospitalized, 10-day-old Spanish American male infant was brought to the x-ray department of the Bernalillo County-Indian Hospital because one hour earlier bloody mucus had been observed in his stool. The infant had been fussy for about two hours (the fussiness having begun, as was determined later, almost immediately following the taking of his rectal temperature). Examination revealed slight abdominal distention and possibly diminished bowel sounds. Parturition had been normal and, except for