Two-Decade Clincal Study of Tracheobronchial Foreign Bodies

Abstract

Subjects with ingected or otherwise internalized with foreign bodies often require emergency aid, especially in cases with tracheobronchial foreign bodies causing respiratory compromise and potentially mortal pneumonia. We treated 18 such cases in the last 20 years—8 men and 10 women—half of whom were one year old. Most objects were beans or nuts initially evidencing cough and stridor, with some involving pneumonia and/or atelectasis, successfully removed in ventilation bronchoscopy.
Half of foreign bodies were found in the left main bronchus, and eight showed Holtzknecht’s sign in chest X-ray imaging.