European journal of radiology
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Emergency departments are facing nowadays an increasing number of illegal drug-related health problems, associated with medicolegal and/or social consequences. Body stuffers are street cocaine dealers, who either store wrapped packets of drugs in their rectum or hastily swallow them, prompted by fear of police's arrest. These packets can be life threatening in case of leakage. We evaluate the diagnostic value of unenhanced multidetector CT (MDCT) for detection of cocaine-filled packets (CFP) ingested by body stuffers in a phantom model. ⋯ Unenhanced MDCT without bowel preparation is a fast, reliable and easily reproducible imaging modality for the immediate detection of ingested CFP, thus facilitating medicolegal management of body stuffers.