Foreign bodies in upper digestive tract.

Foreign body ingestion is a common problem frequently encountered in both children and adults. A total number of 152 patients (104 children and 48 adults) with ingested foreign body admitted in our hospital are reviewed. Location of foreign body was made out by radiological examination. History of having swallowed foreign body was the most common symptom in both blunt and sharp foreign bodies. Endoscopic removal of foreign body was done under general anaesthesia for all cases, except one in which foreign body was removed by open surgical method. Blunt, foreign bodies were common among children, where as meat with bone was common in adults (19/48). Most of blunt foreign bodies in children (83.5%) were impacted in post cricoid region. Where as in adutls, the foreign bodies (37.5%) were seen in upper oesophagus. Retropharyngeal abscess was seen in 2 cases, which was associated with sharp foreign bodies. In all but one, endoscopic removal was successful. In one case denture impacted in post cricoid region was removed by open surgical method. There was no mortality in our series.