A Rare Case of a Hypopharyngeal Foreign Body and Statistical Review of Pharyngeal Foreign Bodies

Abstract

A rare case of a hypopharyngeal foreign body, a piece of stalk of green tea, is reported with a review of the literature.
A 45-year-old woman had been suffering from pharyngalgia and hoarseness for 3 days and she visited our hospital. She was treated with antibiotics as acute arytenoiditis, but this inflammation was refractory. Six weeks later, rigid esophagoscopy was done and we removed a piece of stalk of green tea lodged in the piriform recess.
The importance of a careful history from all patients with inflammation in the aerodigestive tract is emphasized.
The statistical fin d ings of pharyngeal foreign body cases in our hospital between 1981and 1990 are reported.
In total,121 cases of pharyngeal foreign bodies were treated. The incidence of pharyngeal foreign bodies is higher in children under 10 years of age and adults in their twenties, and is also higher in women than in men. Fish bones (108 cases,89%) were the usual foreign bodies lodged in the pharynx. The locations of foreign bodies were as follows: 56 cases (46%) lodged in the tonsil,37 cases (31%) in the base of the tongue,9 cases (7.4%)in the vallecula, and only 8 cases (6.6%) in the hypopharynx. Foreign bodies were lodged in the base of the tongue and the vallecula more frequently in older people than in younger people.