Accidental Ingestion of Foreign Bodies in Children: Experience from Developing Countries

Introduction: Accidental ingestion of foreign bodies in children is uncommon, regardless whether in the developed or underdeveloped countries.  Reports in the United States show that the most common object is coin.  Majority of the patients are asymptomatic. As the patients are asymptomatic, most of the patients were treated conservatively as the foreign bodies pass out spontaneously. In certain cases, an endoscopy is needed to retrieve the objects. This study illustrates the experience in managing the condition in the developing country. Methods: This is a retrospective study looking into the management of accidental foreign body ingestion in the local hospital. A computer search was made into the hospital database searching for diagnosis of foreign body ingestion between April 2017 to May 2018. The parameters of the patients were retrieved from the computer database. Patients with incomplete data were excluded Result: 14 patients were identified with the diagnosis of ingested foreign bodies. One was excluded due to incomplete data. The patients age ranges from 1 to 10 year old with 6/13 (46%) are 3 years or below.  The most common objects ingested is coin (46%) followed by coin cell battery (23%). Only in one patient, the ingested material was radiolucent (stone) which was not seen on radiolograph. Majority (76.9%) of the ingested material passed out spontaneously except in 3/13 (23%), endoscopic retrieval of the material needed to be performed. There was no patient needed exploratory laparotomy. Conclusion: Accidental ingestion of coin is still the most common objects in children. Coin cell battery which is commonly used in electronic device is getting more common. Majority of the objects can be visualized by radiograph and in majority of cases, the material passed out spontaneously without any intervention.