Beverage can stay-tabs: still a source for inadvertently ingested foreign bodies in children.
BACKGROUND
In the 1970s in part to avoid inadvertent ingestion, the beverage-can industry changed can construction from pull-tabs to the stay-tabs (remain attached to can after opening) used today.


OBJECTIVE
Our purpose is to identify the number of inadvertent ingestions of beverage-can stay-tabs by children recognized at our institution.


METHODS
The medical information system of a children's hospital was searched with key terms to identify cases in which a witnessed or self-reported inadvertent ingestion of a beverage-can stay-tab resulted in a radiograph to rule out presence of a foreign body. Demographics, identification of stay-tab on radiographs, associated abnormalities, and patient management were reviewed.


RESULTS
Nineteen cases of stay-tab ingestion were identified over 16 years. Mean age of ingesters was 8.5 years with the majority being teenagers and 15 (79%) >5 years of age. The stay-tab could be seen radiographically only in 4 (21%) cases-all with the stay-tab identified in the stomach.


CONCLUSIONS
The identification of 19 children who inadvertently ingested beverage-can stay-tabs at a single children's hospital suggests that such ingestions still occur. Radiologists should be aware that stay-tabs are radiographically visible in the minority (21%) of cases.
Donnelly
Lane F
LF
Department of Radiology, MLC 5031, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. Lane.Donnelly@cchmc.org
D000293:Adolescent; D001628:Beverages; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004326:Drinking; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013270:Stomach / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed