title: Accidental button battery ingestion presenting as croup.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report a case of misdiagnosis of an impacted oesophageal button battery in a child, and to describe the associated risk factors for impaction and the management of such cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  An 18-month-old, otherwise fit and well child with stridulous respiration was initially treated for croup. Medical treatment over the course of three months failed, and appropriate imaging subsequently demonstrated an impacted button battery in the upper oesophagus. This was promptly removed. There were no signs of damage on direct visualisation, or on a follow-up contrast swallow image.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case highlights the difficulty of diagnosing oesophageal foreign bodies. We also discuss the characteristics of button batteries which confer a greater risk of impaction, and the associated sequelae and complications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gohil
authors.affiliation: University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Culshaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D001999:Bronchoscopy / Q000379:methods; D003440:Croup / Q000209:etiology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004945:Esophagoscopy / Q000379:methods; D004947:Esophagus; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D011859:Radiography; D016896:Treatment Outcome