Koutou (THE LARYNX JAPAN)
Online ISSN : 2185-4696
Print ISSN : 0915-6127
ISSN-L : 0915-6127
Clinical Observations on Patients with Laryngopharyngoesophageal Foreign Bodies
Kosuke UnoKoichiro SaitoKoji InagakiHideki NaganishiKaoru Ogawa
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2008 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 117-122

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Abstract
Clinical investigations were performed on 129 cases that had been referred to our clinic with the complaint of foreign bodies in the throat between November 2006 and October 2007. Foreign bodies were found in 83 cases (64%) and the most common materials were fish bones (73 cases; 88%), notably eel bones. In children, most of the foreign bodies were fish bones in the oral cavity, in the palatine tonsil or at the root of the tongue. In the elderly, press through package (PTP) was considered to be another common material other than fish bones and was found mainly at root of the tongue, in the hypopharynx or in the esophagus. Most of the foreign bodies were easily removed under direct vision (87%) or under flexible endoscopy (7%). We had one patient with a self inserted acupuncture needle into supraglottic lesion that required direct laryngoscopy under general anesthesia to successfully remove the item. Our study suggests that age is an important factor to estimate the position of a foreign body. Although none of the non-detectable cases turned out to have a foreign body in an extrapharyngeal lesion in this study, we consider it important to perform the careful examination and intensive follow up of the patients even when foreign bodies are not detectable during their first visit.
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© The Japan Laryngological Association
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