Successful removal of indigested shell using a rigid esophagoscope and a pneumatic lithotriptor.

Foreign body ingestion is a commonly encountered clinical problem in pediatric emergency cases. The authors report a case of an esophageal foreign body caused by the accidental ingestion of a shell in an 8-month-old girl. Endoscopic removal was attempted but failed because of the sharp margin of the shell and caused it to be deeply impacted into the esophageal wall. Accordingly, a pneumatic lithotriptor was inserted through a rigid esophagoscope and used to fragment the shell.