Button Battery Ingestion: What Do You Do?

Abstract

A 16-month-old male presented with 1-2 months of worsening cough. He had no fever, vomiting, drooling, choking, wheezing, stridor, or changes in his voice. His mother did not witness a foreign body ingestion. He was alert, active, breathing comfortably with clear breath sounds, had a clear oropharynx and no muffled voice. Parental concern prompted a chest x-ray which revealed an esophageal button battery. He was rapidly taken to the operating room where an upper endoscopy revealed a lithium battery lodged below the upper esophageal sphincter with surrounding mucosal erythema and soft tissue …