Original article
English
Khaled Mesalaty and Husien Henaidy
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Tripoli Central Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Elfateh University, Tripoli- Libya
JMJ Vol. 5, No 2 (Summer) 2006: 99-104
Abstract
Inhalation of foreign body is a very serious and life endangering emergency which quite frequently encountered. In an effort to study the problem of bronchoscopy for foreign body removal, prospectively audit 93 consecutive children admitted for bronchoscopy in ENT department, Tripoli Central Hospital from June 2002 to September 2003. Such study is meant to highlight and solve the difficulties encountered in diagnosis, management, anaesthesia and prognosis after removal. Seventy-three (78%) of the patients were less than 4 years of age. In most cases (90%) the parents gave a definitive history of aspiration of foreign body. Most of the cases were of low socio-economic standard with low educational background of their parents. The foreign bodies most frequently encountered were peanut, almond seeds, and bones. In conclusion bronchoscopy and foreign body extraction via rigid endoscope has highly successful cure rate with extremely low morbidity and non existent mortality, however it must be born in mind that bronchoscopy is not free from complications and the risk of bronchoscopy should never be underrated. In cases with protracted chest infection without any suggestive history of foreign body inhalation, diagnostic bronchoscopy was also indicated. Finding one foreign body does not preclude the presence of another.
Keywords: Rigid bronchoscopy, Foreign body, children, Aspiration, Choking
Link/DOI: http://www.jmj.org.ly/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1130