Foreign body aspiration in children and adolescents: experience of a Brazilian referral center.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the clinical, radiological and endoscopic characteristics of foreign body aspiration among individuals under the age of 15 treated at a referral center in the city of São Luís, Brazil.


METHODS
This was a descriptive study using data from the medical charts of patients treated for foreign body aspiration at the Hospital Universitário Materno Infantil between 1995 and 2005. We investigated 72 confirmed cases of foreign body aspiration, evaluating the place of residence, as well as biological, clinical, radiological and endoscopic variables. We used the chi-square test to identify statistically significant differences in frequency among the variables studied.


RESULTS
The majority of the patients were from outlying areas (55.6%). The following variables presented the highest frequencies: 0-3 year age bracket (81.9%); male gender (63.9%); evolution > 24 h (66.7%); hypotransparency on chest X-ray (57.7%); foreign body in the right lung (41.2%) or in the larynx (20.5%); organic nature of the foreign body (83.3%); complication in the form of localized inflammation (59.4%); glottal edema as an endoscopic complication (47.6%); and seeds (46.6%), fishbone (28.3%) or plastics (25.5%) as the type of foreign body. There were no deaths.


CONCLUSIONS
Preventive care should be a priority for male children under the age of 3 living in outlying areas. Such children should not be given access to substances that can be aspirated, including certain foodstuffs. Simple and easily accessible radiological tests have been underused, which jeopardizes the quality of the initial treatment.
de Sousa
Sílvia Teresa Evangelista Vidotto
ST
Centro Universitário do Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brasil.
Ribeiro
Valdinar Sousa
VS
de Menezes Filho
José Mário
JM
dos Santos
Alcione Miranda
AM
Barbieri
Marco Antonio
MA
de Figueiredo Neto
José Albuquerque
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D001938:Brazil; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005549:Foreign-Body Reaction / Q000209:etiology; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D001239:Inhalation; D007830:Larynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers; D001261:Pulmonary Atelectasis / Q000209:etiology; D011859:Radiography