European journal of pediatrics
-
In 224 patients aged 7 months to 14 years aspirated foreign bodies (FB) were extracted from the tracheobronchial system. Eighty-one percent of the children were younger than 3 years, 50% were in the second year of life. There were twice as many boys as girls. ⋯ Complications were rare, no postoperative tracheotomy was necessary, no cardiac arrest and no death occurred. The interval between aspiration and intervention was longer than 3 weeks in one-third of the cases; in some cases it was months or years with the consequence of chronic damage of the bronchial system or the lung. The possibilities of prevention appear to be limited; thus it is necessary to diminish the frequency of prolonged lodging of FB in the respiratory tract by considering aspiration early in the differential diagnosis of airway symptoms.