Management of foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract: an analysis of 104 cases in children.
OBJECTIVE
Ingested foreign bodies may be managed by endoscopy, observation, or surgery. The aim of the study was to investigate the methods of removal of foreign bodies according to type and location, success rates, and complications.


METHODS
The charts of 104 children who had ingested foreign bodies were retrospectively reviewed.


RESULTS
Of the patients, 80 (76.9%) were managed endoscopically. The overall success rate for endoscopic management was 98.8%. There were no complications during endoscopic interventions. In 23 cases the foreign bodies spontaneously passed through the gastrointestinal tract (22.1%). Surgical removal of a foreign body was done in only one case (0.96%). The majority of the foreign bodies which were located in the upper gastrointestinal tract could be removed endoscopically regardless of the nature of the material. Foreign bodies in the small and large intestine tended to pass through spontaneously without complications.


CONCLUSIONS
It appears that the endoscopic approach is the preferable method for the extraction of upper gastrointestinal foreign bodies in child patients because of its high success rate, and that foreign bodies in the small and large intestine tend to be passed spontaneously without complications.
Kim
J K
JK
Dept. of Internal Medicine, Medical College, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul. jkkim@cmc.cuk.ac.kr
Kim
S S
SS
Kim
J I
JI
Kim
S W
SW
Yang
Y S
YS
Cho
S H
SH
Lee
B S
BS
Han
N I
NI
Han
S W
SW
Chung
I S
IS
Chung
K W
KW
Sun
H S
HS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome