Esophageal Foreign Bodies

Esophageal Foreign Bodies. McGahren ED. Pediatr Rev. 1999;20 :129– 133OpenUrlFREE Full Text

Foreign Bodies-Ingested and Inhaled. Muniz AE, Joffe MD. Contemp Pediatr. 1997;14 :78– 100

The “Penny Pincher”: A New Technique for Fast and Safe Removal of Esophageal Coins. Gauderer MW, DeCou JM, Abrams RS, Thomason MA. J Pediatr Surg. 2000;35 :276– 278OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed

Extracting Coins from the Upper End of the Esophagus Using a Magill Forceps Technique. Mahafza TM. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2002;62 :37– 39OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed

Every year, thousands of children in the United States swallow foreign bodies that lodge in the esophagus, resulting in numerous emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and procedures. Most foreign body ingestions occur in children between 6 months and 6 years of age, often when a child who has something in his or her mouth gets a bump to the head, falls, or is startled, leading to a reflexive deep inspiration or swallow. Developmentally delayed children are at high risk, as are children who have undergone esophageal surgery or have a damaged esophagus from a prior caustic ingestion. Coins, food, toys, marbles, buttons, and batteries are among the more common foreign bodies that children have ingested.

A swallowed or aspirated object can cause a respiratory emergency, no symptoms, or anything in between. The signs and symptoms of an ingestion, as well as the management, depend on the type of foreign body (sharp or dull, pointed or blunt, toxic or nontoxic), its anatomic location, and the duration of the impaction. Between 20% and 38% of children who have esophageal foreign bodies are completely asymptomatic, and fewer than 20% have symptoms that specifically suggest ingestion of a foreign body. Clinical suspicion is key because in up to 40% of cases, there …