Two Cases of Bronchial Foreign Bodies : One Case Retained for a Long Time and the Other Found Immediately after Aspiration

Abstract

This paper reports two cases of bronchial foreign bodies. The first case was a 4-year-old girl admitted to hospital because of productive cough and fever. Chest X-ray showed obstructive pneumonia of the left upper lobe. Bronchofiberscopy revealed a vegetable foreign body and granuloma obstructing the left main bronchus. It was thought that she had aspirated it more than two years ago according to her history. The second case was a 81-year-old man that came to the hospital because of aspirating food six hours previously. Emergency bronchofiberscopy showed that the right main bronchus was reddish and edematous and a piece of green bean was impacted from the truncus intermedius to the right basal bronchus. The green bean was removed easily with a balloon catheter and a basket catheter via bronchofiberscopy. Adult cases of bronchial foreign bodies are often reported to have underlying diseases but to this case there was no underlying disease and his advanced age is considered to be one of the causes. Bronchial foreign bodies can be easily diagnosed, but they can have various symptoms and signs, and secondary changes of bronchi may provide a clue to the diagnosis of long-standing foreign bodies.