Children with an imprint made by the handlebar edge on the abdominal wall or give a clear history of injuries by a bicycle handlebar should be treated with great care. Early computed tomography evaluation may help to reduce the morbidity resulting from the delay in diagnosis of injuries to the internal organs.
Ingestion of a disc battery can lead to hazardous complications including tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF), especially when the battery is impacted in the esophagus. Urgent esophagoscopic removal of the battery is essential in all cases. Persisting respiratory symptoms and/or feeding difficulty after removal should alert the surgeon to evaluate for TEF. Esophagography and/or esophagoscopy should be performed. Once the TEF is identified, conservative management is the initial treatment of choice. Delayed primary repair can be tried if spontaneous closure does not occur. The authors present a case of TEF secondary to disc-battery ingestion with review of the current literature and discuss the management of this rare but potentially life-threatening complication.
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