An ingested foreign body: two sides of the same coin?
A 2-year-old child presented to the emergency department with an acute onset of dysphagia and stertor. A plain anteroposterior chest X-ray revealed a single circular opacity in the middle third of the oesophagus consistent with an ingested coin. The child was taken to the theatre for rigid pharyngo-oesophagoscopy and removal of the coin. After the first coin was removed subsequent endoscopic examination revealed a second coin at the same location. This extremely rare case of two ingested coins becoming impacted with perfect radiological alignment emphasises the importance of thorough examination on endoscopy and the potential limitations of an X-ray in initial assessment of an ingested foreign body.
St. Mary's Hospital, London, UK.
Kiran
K
Varadharajan
Jennifer
J
Magill
Kalpesh
K
Patel
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004724:Endoscopy; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D011859:Radiography