Extraluminal Foreign Bodies (Coins) in the Food and Air Passages

Abstract

Four children with foreign bodies found outside the lumen of the upper food and air passages are presented. The diagnostic difficulty of such extraluminal foreign bodies and the importance of accurate localization by endoscopy and radiologic examination prior to external surgical removal are discussed.

Migratory foreign body of neck in a battered baby: A case report

“…Once the diagnosis has been confirmed, cervical or thoracic exploration is undertaken. As in the literature opening of the esophagus is unnecessary [2,14,15]. The foreign body is easily found in a mass of inflammatory tissue as in our case.…”

“…This is characteristic for an extruded foreign body. Despite all of the drastic possibilities associated with treatment of esophageal perforations, our approach and that found in the literature [2,14,15] have been quite simple. Once the diagnosis has been confirmed, cervical or thoracic exploration is undertaken.…”

Yield of Chest Radiography After Removal of Esophageal Foreign Bodies

“…The described complications include mediastinitis with or without abscess, 6,22 esophageal-airway fistulas, 23,24 esophageal-vascular fistulas 6,22,25 extraluminal migration of object, 24,[26][27][28][29] and false diverticula. 28 In the available literature from the 1970s to the present, most studies demonstrated an injury rate of about 1%, with 1 review reporting 0.1% 18 and several smaller studies as high as 4% to 6%.…”

Extraluminal migration of a coin in the oesophagus of a child misdiagnosed as asthma

“…The first patient had a previously repaired congenital tracheo-oesophageal fistula and his ingested coin was lodged at the site of the repair and had eroded partly into the right bronchus and partly into the mediastinal tissue; postoperatively the fistula re-opened but closed spontaneously within four weeks. 4 The other postoperative complication was a small posterior oesophageal fistula, which closed after two weeks of conservative management. 7 In our case there was a small postoperative leak that meant that the child was not able to resume oral feeds for a few weeks.…”