Global Advanced Research Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences
April 2012 Vol. 1(3), pp. 061-067
Copyright © 2012 Global Advanced Research Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Foreign body aspiration in children; Analysis of 42 cases

Tulin Durgun Yetim¹, Hanifi Bayarogulları², Vefik Arıca³*, Bülent Akcora⁴, Secil Gunher Arıca⁵, Murat Tutanc³

¹Mustafa Kemal University Thoracic Surgery Department, Asisst Proff. Dr. Hatay, Turkey
²Mustafa Kemal University Radiology Department, Asisst. Proff. Dr. Hatay, Turkey
³Mustafa Kemal University Pediatric Department, Asisst. Proff. Dr. Hatay. Turkey
⁴Mustafa Kemal University Pediatric Surgery Department, Asisst. Proff. Dr. Hatay, Turkey
⁵Mustafa Kemal University Family Medicine Department, Asisst. Proff. Dr. Hatay, Turkey

*Corresponding author E-mail: vefikarica@hotmail.com; mobil: +90505 6797877

Accepted 09 April, 2012 

Abstract

Tracheal foreign body aspiration is among the major causes of death in developing countries, specifically in infancy and childhood. If it is diagnosed in early period and the foreign body is removed, no complication develops. Records of 42 forensic child patients who applied to Mustafa Kemal University, Medical Faculty Hospital and to the Antakya State Hospital, Thoracic Surgery and Pediatric Surgery clinics between 2008-2011, and hospitalized with the thraceobronchial foreign body aspiration prediagnosis were studied retrospectively. Of the 42 patients, 22 were male and 20 were female, and their ages ranged from 4 months to 5 years. Foreign body was detected in 38 cases. In 4 cases, bronchoscopy was performed with the suspicion of foreign body, but no foreign body was observed. The foreign body was removed with rigid bronchoscopy in 37 cases, and in one case, metal tip of a pen was removed from left upper lobe bronchus with thoracotomy. Foreign body aspirations in children mostly originate from accidents. Similarly, the cause of aspiration in children under the age of 5 in our study was mainly accidental and the rest were due to the negligence.

Keywords: foreign body, aspiration, bronchoscopy, children