# Favorable outcome after fetal swallowing of a Somatex® intrauterine shunt

## TL;DR

A fetus swallowed a dislodged intrauterine shunt, which passed through the digestive system and was excreted after birth without complications.

## Contribution

First reported case of fetal ingestion of a Somatex Intrauterine Stent and its safe passage post-birth.

## Key findings

- The shunt remained in the fetal stomach until birth and then passed through the intestines.
- The shunt was excreted in the neonate’s stool without causing digestive damage.
- Breastfeeding may have prompted the movement of the shunt through the neonate’s bowel.

## Abstract

This report describes the ingestion of a dislodged Somatex Intrauterine Stent by the fetus. At 35 weeks one shunt was visualized in the fetal stomach, suggesting that the fetus had swallowed it. The shunt kept its position in the stomach until the last follow up scan at 37 weeks. At 38 weeks the patient went into spontaneous labor and vaginally delivered a boy weighting 3590 g. The first chest X-ray on the day of birth demonstrated the dislodged shunt in the duodenum while the other shunt drained the left kidney. The mother started breastfeeding. The x-ray on the second day of life was made after removal of the second shunt and the creation of a nephrostoma and demonstrated the dislodged shunt in the ileum. On the third day of life the shunt was found in the neonate’s stool. The neonate was dismissed on day 7 with antibiotic prophylaxis. To our best knowledge this is the first report of an intrauterine ingestion of a Somatex Intrauterine Stent. It demonstrates that in the intrauterine period the shunt remains in the stomach and starts to pass the bowel after birth, probably prompted by breastfeeding. In our case the shunt was eventually excreted without any damage to the digestive system.