Dott

Hindawi Publishing Corporation
International Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 2010, Article ID 490691, 6 pages
doi:10.1155/2010/490691
Research Article
Foreign Bodies in the Oesophagus: The Experience of
the Buenos Aires Paediatric ORL Clinic
Alberto Chinski,1 Francesca Foltran,2 Dario Gregori,3 Simonetta Ballali,4 Desiderio Passali,5
and Luisa Bellussi5
1 Faculty of Medicine, University ofBuenos Aires, C1121ABG Buenos Aires, Argentina
2Department of Surgery, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
3 Labs of Epidemiological Methods and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health,
University of Padova, Via Loredan 18, 35131 Padova, Italy
4 Faculty of Medicine, University of Padova, 35122 Padova, Italy
5ENT Department, University of Siena, 53100 Siena,Italy
Correspondence should be addressed to Dario Gregori, dario.gregori@unipd.it
Received 14 May 2010; Revised 6 July 2010; Accepted 21 August 2010
Academic Editor: Erle H. Austin
Copyright © 2010 Alberto Chinski et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, providedthe original work is properly
cited.
The ingestion of foreign bodies causing esophageal injuries is a common event, mostly in children’s population. The aim of the
present paper is to present foreign body (FB) ingestion cases observed in a five-year period at the Children’s Hospital Gutierrez,
Buenos Aires, Argentina and to compare the main findings with data coming from other well-known caseseries, already published
in scientific literature. A prospective study on 320 of esophageal foreign body was carried out , with regard to age and sex
distributions, type, dimensions and consistency, location, clinical presentation, removal and complications. In the majority of
cases injuries happened while children were playing and in 85.3% adults were present. Children most frequentlyingested coins
(83.8% cases). Removal was performed in all cases under general anaesthesia, in 34 by esophageal forceps and in 286 cases by
Magill hypopharyngeal forceps. Just one case showed complications, presenting esophageal perforation. The final results of this
study show that injuries usually happen under adults’ supervision and highlight that FBs involved in the incident belong to classes
ofobjects not conceived for children’s use and not suitable for their age. Therefore, educational strategies regarding safe behaviours
have a key role in FB injuries prevention.
1. Introduction
Foreign body (FB) ingestion is a frequent occurrence in
children, especially in their first six years of life [1, 2],
with a peak in children older than 3 years [3, 4]. Various
reasons for this eventcan be pointed out, stressing
that all the characteristics such as sex, age, socioeconomic
level and parents’ influence are closely interrelated
[5]. The most common aspects presented in literature
as leading factors to those injuries include children’s
behaviour, anatomical characteristics, and physiological
features such as immature swallowing coordination,
development of chewing capacity,and higher respiratory
rates [6]. Details of FB characteristics and the dynamics
of the traumatic events involved in FB inhalation are
therefore important to understand the pathogenic pathway.
The aim of the present paper is to present esophageal
foreign bodies cases observed at the Children’s Hospital
Gutierrez in Buenos Aires in a period of five years and to
compare these findings withdata coming from representative
case series already published in international literature and
coming from other continents.
2.Methods
2.1. Data Collection. Data regarding children (0–14 years)
presenting FB in the esophagus have been prospectively
2 International Journal of Pediatrics
collected at the Children’s Hospital Gutierrez in Buenos Aires
over a five-year period.
2.2. Statistical...