The ingestion of foreign bodies is a worldwide pediatric pathology.We assessed the clinical, endoscopic, and therapeutic aspects of\nthis condition in a pediatric gastroenterology unit. We reviewed 61 patients (median age of 3.25 Ã?± 4.7 years). The most frequently\ningested objects were coins (26.23%), unidentified metal objects (13.11%), bones (8.19%), batteries, and buttons (6.55%). The clinical\nfeatures we encountered included abdominal pain (55.73%), vomiting (34.42%), and asymptomatic children (29.5%). Routine Xray\nexamination enabled finding the foreign body in 42 of the cases. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy was performed within\n24ââ?¬â??72 hours. 25 cases resulted in a negative endoscopy (40.98%), 19 objects (31.14%) were removed using a polypectomy snare, and\nextraction failure occurred in 17 patients (27.86%). 28 foreign bodies were passed without incidents; in 14 cases, the swallowed\nobjects were never found. In one case, a battery was stuck in the esophageal folds and led to tracheal-esophageal fistula and\nbronchopneumonia and later to esophageal stenosis.We report a large proportion of foreign bodies that could not be identified or\nremoved due to lack of early endoscopy and poor technical settings. Batteries and sharp objects lead to severe complications and\npreschool-age children are at high risk for such events.
Loading....