Conservative management of foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract

There are at present no clear guidelines whether foreign body ingestion in the gastrointestinal tract should be managed conservatively, endoscopically or surgically. Retrospectively we have, therefore, analyzed 78 foreign body ingestion's in 42 patients (age 15-72 years) admitted to the Emergency Department of the University Hospital in Vienna. Our intention was to assess the value of a conservative management, defined as daily feliow-up visits until the foreign body spontaneously appeared in the feces and to find criteria when endoscopic or surgical management ist required. Of 78 foreign bodies, 67 (86%) passed the gastrointestinal tract spontaneously without complications, 9 (11%) were removed endoscopically, and only 2 (3%) required surgery. There were no gastrointestinal perforations. Even foreign bodies with a maximal length of 13,5 cm appeared in the feces spontaneously within a few days. Our data suggests that more than 80% of adults with foreign body ingestion can be managed safely as outpatients by means of conservative treatment. Endoscopic or surgical removal is only indicated in very rare circumstances.