Case Report of a Vanished Aspirated Foreign Body; Cough may be more Helpful

Foreign body aspiration is a potentially life-threatening event especially in those who are younger than 5 years old. Aspiration could be presented as a spectrum, ranging from absolutely asymptomatic event to more sever events including choking, respiratory distress and cyanosis or even death. Although foreign bodies in lung may not be visualized on X-ray, X-ray radiography is considered as a first step in localizing aspirated foreign bodies. Bronchoscope as rigid or flexible optic fiber is the main device used in removing aspirated foreign bodies. However, in some cases, as the present case report, previous foreign bodies which were localized in lung could travel back to the mouth and be ingested. In this report, we discussed a case of foreign body aspiration in a 10 year-old girl referred to Dr. Sheikh Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, whose foreign body located in the lower lobe of the left lung returned and was ingested before bronchoscopy after some episodes of sever coughing.

Keywords:

Bronchoscopy , Children , Cough , Foreign body aspiration