Esophageal foreign bodies in children: 2 years experience in a country hospital

Objective: Foreign body (FB) ingestion is one of the most common causes of emergency admissions in childhood. In our hospital FB's of upper esophagus are removed with Magill forceps and the others with rigid esophagoscopy. The aim of this study is to present our patients treated with diagnosis of esophagial foreign body in Mus State Hospital for 2 years period, and analyze our treatment methods in the light of the literature. Methods: Patients diagnosed with esophageal foreign bodies who were admitted to Pediatric Surgery Clinic of Mus State Hospital between November 2013 and December 2015 were evaluated retrospectively. In our study 19 children with a diagnosis of esophageal foreign body were reviwed according to age, gender, clinical symptoms, radiological findings, the impaction site and the type of the foreign body Results: There were 10 male and 9 female patients. The youngest was 1.5 and the oldest was 15 years old. The most common location (52.5%) of FB detected in esophagus was the first narrowing. We used Magill forceps for removing FB in 52.5% of the patients and rigid esophagoscope in 38.9% of them the most common symptom was refusing feeding and difficult swallowing. Conclusion: A detailed history is essential in patients who has swallowed a foreign body. Pointed and sharp objects usually require emergency intervention. Foreign bodies located in the upper part of esophagus can be removed easily by Magill forceps but rigid esophagoscopy remains a golden standard of removing objects from the esophagus of pediatric patients.