Esophageal Foreign Body
Categories:
FOREIGN BODIES IN THE LARYNX AND TRACHEOBRONCHIAL TREE
Sources:
A Manual Of Peroral Endoscopy And Laryngeal Surgery
After initial choking and gagging, or
without these, there may be a subjective sense of a foreign body,
constant or, more often, on swallowing. Odynphagia and dysphagia or
aphagia may or may not be present. Pain, sub-sternal or extending to
the back is sometimes present. Hematemesis and fever may occur from
the foreign body or from rough instrumentation. Symptoms referable to
the air-passages may be present due to: (1)
Overflow of the secretions
on attempts to swallow through the obstructed esophagus; (2) erosion
of the foreign body through from the esophagus into the trachea; or
(3) trauma inflicted on the larynx during attempts at removal, digital
or instrumental, the foreign body still being present or not.
Diagnosis is by the roentgenray, first without, then, if necessary,
with a capsule filled with an opaque mixture. Flat objects, like
coins, always lie with their greatest diameter in the coronal plane of
the body, when in the esophagus; in the sagittal plane, when in the
trachea or larynx. Lateral, anteroposterior, and sometimes also
quartering roentgenograms are necessary. One taken laterally, low down
on the neck but clear of the shoulder, will often show a bone or other
semiopaque object invisible in the anteroposterior exposure.