Abstract

Foreign Body Aspiration in Paediatric Airway

Foreign body aspiration is one of leading cause of accidental deaths among children. Early diagnosis is most important because any diagnostic delay may cause increase in mortality and morbidity. In this study, we evaluated different clinical features with which children presented along with different types of foreign body, site of impaction and outcome. We compared the diagnostic and results with other studies. Material and methods: It is a descriptive study of 95 children diagnosed to have foreign body aspiration. Each patient was examined for the age, sex, nature, site of the foreign body, interval between inhalation or the symptoms to admission in the hospital, presenting symptoms and signs, appearance of chest roentgenograms at the time of admission and results of bronchoscopy were noted. Results: In our study, maximum incidence of 35.7% occurred among children with 1-2 years of age. Only 47% of children had definitive history of foreign body aspiration. Acute onsets of respiratory symptoms were most common presenting complaints. In our study, we found that sudden onset of cough (71%), breathlessness (47%) and fever (43%) were most common presenting symptoms. On examination, unilateral diminished air entry (61%) was most common sign found. On examining chest X-rays we found that obstructive emphysema was (56%) most common radiological sign. Chest X-ray was normal in 8% of cases. Among the foreign bodies removed 86% were organic in nature and most commonly were lodged in right bronchus (48.3%).

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