Swallowed foreign bodies in children: diagnostic and therapeutic implications

Backgrounds: Children continue to swallow foreign bodies (FBs), some of which are bizarre but coins continue to be the most common. This review presents our experience with 62 swallowed FBs outlining aspects of diagnosis and management. Patients and Methods: The medical records of all children with the diagnosis of swallowed FB were retrospectively reviewed for age, type of the swallowed FB, diagnosis and management. Results: During a 7-year period, from June 2008 to July 2015, a total of 62 children with swallowed FBs were treated. Their age ranged from 8 months to 10 years (mean 5.2 years). There were 38 males and 24 females. All were healthy with no prior medical problems except one who had primary repair of esophageal atresia during neonatal period. A variety of FBs were swallowed but coins were the commonest representing 71% of cases. Twenty seven FBs (43.5%) required either endoscopic or surgical removal (21 esophageal and 6 intestinal). The remaining 35 (56.5%) passed spontaneously. Conclusions: Swallowing of FBs by children continues to be a common medical problem. Coins remain the commonest object to be swallowed. Impacted esophageal FBs require prompt removal.Watchful waiting is preferred to deal with swallowed FBs once they passed beyond the esophagus, but early recognitison and management of any complication is necessary.