Children can put just about anything they can grasp into their mouths or their noses and then swallow it or aspirate it. Foreign bodies (FB) of the aero-digestive tract, whether they are aspirated, inserted or ingested are potentially dangerous. If they are not diagnosed early and removed they can result in numerous complications, such as perforation, obstruction of the gas-tro-intestinal tract, tissue necrosis, fi stula formation, ulcerations, massive bleeding, airway and lung infections.
These complications carry a signifi cant morbidity and mortality. FB aspiration in the airways is the cause of 160 annual deaths in children younger than 14 years old in the United States. The 2001 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers noted 115,320 cases of ingestion of a foreign body by children younger than 20 years. More than 70% of these children are younger than 6 years.
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Further Reading
American Association of Poison Control Centers (2001) Annual Report Vol.19; 5:335–395
Center for Disease Control (2004) 53 (SS07); 1–57
Chen MK, Beleri EA (2001) Gastrointestinal foreign bodies. Pediatr Ann 30:736–742
Kim IG, Brummitt WM, Humphry A et al (1973) Foreign body in the airway. Laryngoscope 83:347–354
Lelli Jr JL (2005) Foreign bodies. In KW Ashcraft, GW Holcomb III, JF Murphy (eds) Pediatric Surgery. Elsevier Saunders, Philadelphia, pp 137–145
Pyman C (1971) Inhaled foreign bodies in childhood. J Otolaryngol Soc Aust 3:170–180
Puri P, Höllwarth ME (eds) (2006) Pediatric Surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Stack LB, Munter DW (2006) Foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract. Emerg Med Clin N Am 14:493–521
Wiseman NE (1984) The diagnosis of foreign body aspiration in childhood. J Pediatr Surg 19:531–535
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Nguyen, L.T. (2009). Foreign Bodies. In: Puri, P., Höllwarth, M. (eds) Pediatric Surgery. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69560-8_20
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