A Case Report on the Child with Two Coins Ingested Foreign Bodies in the Esophagus During the Lockdown in COVID 19 Pandemic

Abstract

A 4-year-old child presented to the emergency department with an acute onset of dysphagia and vomiting. A plain X-ray soft tissue neck lateral view revealed a double circular opacity in the cervical oesophagus consistent with an ingestion of multiple foreign bodies. Preoperative planning and SARS-CoV2 testing is of particular importance for the pediatric population and if testing cannot be performed, patients in all age groups should be handled as though they are positive for COVID-19, and appropriate precautions should be taken. The child was taken to the theatre for rigid pharyngo-oesophagoscopy and removal of the coins. 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, we would therefore advocate having a low threshold for performing a ‘second look’ endoscopy after removal of the first foreign body with postoperative X-rays.