FOREIGN BODY INGESTION IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS

Objective: We aimed to retrospectively analyse the patients that admitted to our clinic with the complaint of foreign body ingestion. Patients and Metods: Between 1986-2015, the patients who received a surgical treatment with the complaint of foreign body ingestion are retrospectively analysed for age, gender, ingested material, localisation, radiologic, clinical findings and the treatment. Results: 435 patients have admitted for foreing body ingestion. 196 of them were female, 239 of them were male. Foreign body is has been detected by radiography in all of them. The mean age of the patients were 3.66 +/- 2.85 years (min 1,5 month-max 14 years). Out of 256 patients (58.9%) who admitted to our clinic with coin ingestion, 212 of them were treated with rigid esophagoscopy and 44 with direct laryngoscopy. All of the coins were successfully extracted. 61 patients (14%) ingested safety pins, 45 of them had pins located in the oesophagus, were extracted with esophagoscopy, while the other 16 underwent laparotomy. 52 patients ingested sharp metallic objects (11.9%), 45 of these patients were treated with esophagoscopy, 4 patients with laparatomy and 2 with appendectomy. 28 of the patients (6.4%) had food stuck in esophagus being extracted via esophagoscopy. Ten patients (2.3%) with battery ingestion were also treated with esophagoscopy; however, one of them experienced perforation and therefore underwent esophagostomy and gastrostomy. Three patients with gastric bezoar (0.69%) and one patient who had ingested magnet pieces (0.22%) were treated with laparatomy. Conclusion: Foreign body ingestion is one of the most common surgical emergencies. The type of the foreign body, clinical findings in children differ from adults and needs invidually different managements. Timely and accurate surgical interventions can decrease the complication rates.