In 24 years (1932-1956) I treated 3033 foreign body cases in our clinic of Osaka University Faculty of Medicine. The diagnosis and treatment of these cases have been reported in the XV General Assembly of Japan Medical Congress.
In this paper I am pointing out comparatively unnoticed matters relative to foreign body incidence.
1. Foreign bodies which had been found in the stomach harmlessly passed through alimentary tract as follows; coins in 15 to 24 hours and seldom longer than 4 days; “Go-stones” or Japanese checker game stones in 1-4 days; buttons in 3-6 days; pins in 1-22 days; toys in 1-4 days. One leather ring took 46 days before it passed through the bowel.
2. After the removal of foreign bodies it is advisable always to check the esophagus for possible existence of carcinoma. I have found carcinoma of the esophagus in 10 such cases.
3. A babitual foreign body case: one year and 3 month old boy swallowed at separate occasions one 10 yen coin, one 5 yen coin and one pin all of which passed through the stomach. However, I had to retrieve with bronchoscope one pin which was aspirated by this boy and lodged in the bronchus.
