Foreign body ingestion in Egyptian children: a 10-year experience of endoscopic intervention in a tertiary hospital

BACKGROUND: There is paucity of data regarding foreign body (FB) ingestion among Middle-Eastern children. We conducted a retrospective analysis of FB ingestion among Egyptian children and determined the predictors that affect the occurrence of complications. METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out on 1546 patients aged 13 years or younger presenting with FB ingestion and in need of endoscopic FB removal. RESULTS: There were 711 males (46%) and 835 females (54%) (mean age 4.56 +/- 2.26 years). Symptoms were present in 1414 patients (91.5%) while complications were present in 137 patients (8.9%). There was a significant difference between complicated and non-complicated cases with regard to higher age group, duration of impaction, site of impaction and type of FB (P=0.001, P=0.001, P=0.001, and P<0.001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The highest rate of complications was observed in FB impacted in duodenum and those without symptoms while symptomatic cases and impaction in upper esophagus were associated with higher success rate of removal.