Foreign-Body Ingestion In Children: Experience With 1,265 Cases

This study aims to elucidate the clinical presentation, the effectiveness of investigations, and treatment of foreign body ingestion in children and to formulate an algorithm of management. The records of children admitted to a single institution who had a history of foreign body ingestion over 33 years is reviewed. Foreign bodies were detected in 552 of the total. The age ranged from 6m to 16y. The pre-school toddlers were most prone to ingest inanimate objects. Most common objects were coins and non metallic sharp objects. Although X-ray could detect all the metallic objects and 86% of glass objects, the sensitivity of fish bone detection is only 26%.