title: Foreign body injuries in children: a review.
abstract: The aim of this paper was to overview existing knowledge on foreign body (FB) injuries in children, with particular focus on FB types and anatomical locations, clinical presentation and complications. FB injuries represent a severe public health problem in childhood. The fact that the highest prevalence of FB injuries is reported for children between 0 and 3 years of age depends primarily on the fact that they explore objects using their mouth and are also not able to distinguish edible objects from non-edible ones. Types of FB causing injuries depend on the symptoms related to FB ingestion/inhalation/insertion (providing an early diagnosis of FB injuries) and complications related to the FB characteristics (type, shape, dimensions). The analysis of the Susy Safe database showed that in 10,564 cases, in which the object type was available, 74% of objects were inorganic and were mostly represented by pearls and balls, followed by coins. The main concerning about FB injuries is the fact that they may be asymptomatic or that symptoms may be non-specific. Consequently, the FB injury can be misinterpreted as a gastrointestinal or respiratory infection. The absence of specific symptoms indicating the occurrence of FB injury can lead to delays in diagnosis, thereby increasing the risk of complications. Symptoms seem to mostly depend on the anatomical location. Many ingested FBs pass naturally through the gastrointestinal tract without complications or damage. However, severe complications can occur depending on the characteristics of the FB, its anatomical location, the child's age and delays in diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: ENT Clinic University of Siena, Italy;
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Passali
authors.affiliation: Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Italy;
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gregori
authors.affiliation: Unit of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Italy;
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lorenzoni
authors.affiliation: ENT Clinic University of Siena, Italy;
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cocca
authors.affiliation: ENT Clinic University of Siena, Italy;
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Loglisci
authors.affiliation: ENT Clinic Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Passali
authors.affiliation: ENT Clinic University of Siena, Italy;
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bellussi
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005145:Face; D005547:Foreign Bodies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009055:Mouth; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Children; Emergency care; Foreign bodies; Suffocation
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