Aim Our aim was to summarise the evidence about flexible bronchoscopy for paediatric airway foreign body aspiration cases. Methods We searched the PubMed database from 1 January 2001 to 9 October 2021 for peer‐review papers published in English on the use, and success rates, of flexible bronchoscopy as the first‐line treatment for foreign body aspiration cases. This process identified 243 potential papers. Results We studied 23 papers comprising 2588 cases of foreign body aspiration and flexible bronchoscopy successfully removed the foreign bodies in 87.1% of cases. Complication rates were low in the 983 patients studied in 18 papers. The foreign bodies were organic materials in 78.3% of 1371 patients and mainly lodged in the right bronchial tree in 50.5% of 1402 patients. General anaesthesia was used before flexible bronchoscopy in 14/23 studies and laryngeal mask airways were mostly used in 10/23 studies to secure the airway during the procedure. Ancillary equipment was used to assist the foreign body removal in 57.3% of 1808 cases and these were usually baskets. Conclusion Flexible bronchoscopy was a feasible and safe therapeutic procedure for selected foreign body aspiration cases. Future studies need to focus on comparing the clinical outcomes of flexible and rigid bronchoscopies.

Myocarditis represents a potential complication of various infectious and noninfectious agents and a common diagnostic challenge for clinicians. Data regarding Campylobacter-associated myocarditis are limited. Here, a case of a 13-year-old female with Campylobacter jejuni gastroenteritis complicated by myocarditis is presented, followed by a literature review in order to retrieve information about Campylobacter-associated carditis in the pediatric population. A search on MEDLINE/PubMed yielded 7relevant cases in the last 20 years. Most of them (six/seven) were males and the mean age was 16.1 years. All patients presented with gastrointestinal symptoms followed in six/seven cases by chest pain within two to seven days. Campylobacter was isolated from stool cultures in six patients; abnormal electrocardiographic findings were detected in six; and abnormal echocardiographic findings in three of the cases. Five patients were treated with antibiotics. Full recovery was the clinical outcome in six patients, whereas one patient died. Concerning the nonspecific symptoms of patients with myocarditis, high clinical suspicion of this complication is necessary in cases where patients with a recent infection present with chest pain and elevated cardiac biomarkers.

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Background: Foreign body aspiration (FBA) in the tracheobronchial tree is a common problem in the pediatric population. Rigid bronchoscopic procedure is currently the gold standard method for treatment in pediatric patients, whereas recent reports present flexible bronchoscopy as an alternative method. The aim of this study was to summarize all available evidence regarding the application and the success rate of flexible bronchoscopy in foreign body (FB) removal. Methods: Systematic review of the use of flexible bronchoscopy as the first-line treatment in FBA cases in PubMed from 2001 to 2021. Results: Out of 243 citations, 23 studies were included on the use of flexible bronchoscopic procedure as a treatment of choice in 2,587 children with FBA. The FBs were successfully removed in 2,254/2,587 (87.1%) patients with a low complication rate. The majority of FBs retrieved were organic materials 1,073/1,370 (78.3%), and they were most commonly lodged in the right bronchial tree 708/1,401 (50.5%). General anesthesia was applied in most studies (14/23) before proceeding to a flexible bronchoscopy and laryngeal mask airways (LMAs) were mostly used (10/23 studies) to secure the airway during the procedure. Ancillary equipment, usually forceps 1,544/1808 (85.4%) assisted in the FB retrieval. Conclusion: The use of flexible bronchoscopy is shown to be a feasible and safe alternative therapeutic procedure in FBA cases. There is a need for development of extraction equipment and techniques to assist the procedure. Finally, future studies focusing on the comparison between clinical outcomes of flexible and rigid bronchoscopies are necessary.