Foreign Body, Swallowed

Presentation

Parents bring in a young child (usually between the ages of 6 months and 6 years) shortly after the child has swallowed a coin, safety pin, or toy. The child may be asymptomatic or have recurrent or transient symptoms of choking, gagging, vomiting, drooling, dysphagia, pain, or a foreign-body (FB) sensation. Stridor or dyspnea resulting from tracheal compression may occur in young children. Disturbed or cognitively impaired adults may be brought from mental health facilities to the hospital on repeated occasions, at times accumulating a sizable load of ingested material. Impacted esophageal foreign bodies are more likely to cause the symptoms described, whereas gastric foreign bodies are usually asymptomatic .