Medium urgency
-Moderately severe
This is an object that has become lodged in the oesophagus after being swallowed, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
The most common object is a piece of meat in adults and coins in children.
Symptoms include a sensation of something in the neck or upper chest, rapid onset of dysphagia, salivation, nausea, vomiting, breathlessness, chest pain and sore throat.
Diagnosis is made by clinical interview, physical examination and imaging studies.
Treatment focuses on pain relief with analgesia and removal of the foreign body with fibroesophagoscopy.
- George Triadafilopoulos. Ingested foreign bodies and food impactions in adults. UpToDate, Jan 07, 2016.
- Ribas Y, Ruiz-Luna D, Garrido M, et al. Ingested foreign bodies: do we need a specific approach when treating inmates? Am Surg 2014; 80:131.
- Palta R, Sahota A, Bemarki A, et al. Foreign-body ingestion: characteristics and outcomes in a lower socioeconomic population with predominantly intentional ingestion. Gastrointest Endosc 2009; 69:426.
- Louis Michel Wong Kee Song, Mark Topzian. Endoscopia del tubo digestivo. Obstrucción esofágica aguda. Harrison. Principios de Medicina Interna. Volumen 2. 19ª Edición. 1891:1893.
- Marta Romero Gutiérrez, José María Carrobles Jiménez, Alejandro Repiso Ortega. Cuerpos extraños en el aparato digestivo. Manual de protocolos y actuación en urgencias. Hospital Virgen de la Salud, Complejo Hospitalario de Toledo. Tercera edición. 2010. 477: 479.
Dr. Oscar Garcia-Esquirol
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