A foreign body ingestion is a frequent situation during the childhood and that, sometimes, can implicate doing an endoscopy to solve the clinical picture.
The most frequent items are coins, dentures, toys and medication containers.
When it causes symptoms, generally, they are due to a lesion caused by the object; It tends to cause pain and rigidity to abdominal palpation. It may cause no symptoms and end up being expelled during defecation.
The diagnosis is clinical, reached through questioning and a full physical examination. Laboratory and imaging tests (abdominal X-ray or CT-scan) are used to confirm the presence of the foreign body.
Treatment is based on controlling the pain with common analgesics, and the removal of the foreign body (fibroendoscopy or surgery).
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