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Ingested foreign body in young children
Insights
Diagnosing ingested foreign bodies in prelingual children requires high suspicion. This case highlights a two-year-old boy with a pharyngeal perforation and retropharyngeal abscess due to an undiagnosed foreign body.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Gastroenterology
- Otolaryngology
- Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Ingested foreign bodies are common in adults, but pediatric cases represent 6.5% of all incidents.
- Diagnosis is straightforward in communicative patients, but challenging in prelingual children.
- A high index of suspicion is crucial for identifying foreign body ingestion in non-verbal children.
Observation:
- A two-year-old boy presented with symptoms suggestive of an undiagnosed ingested foreign body.
- The undiagnosed foreign body led to a pharyngeal perforation.
- A subsequent retropharyngeal abscess developed.
Findings:
- The case illustrates a delayed diagnosis of an ingested foreign body in a young child.
- Pharyngeal perforation and retropharyngeal abscess were the severe complications.
- The importance of early recognition and management in pediatric foreign body ingestion is emphasized.
Implications:
- This case underscores the need for heightened clinical awareness in pediatric foreign body ingestion.
- Prompt diagnosis and intervention are critical to prevent serious complications like perforation and abscess.
- Management strategies for ingested foreign bodies in young children require careful consideration.
Abstract:
Locally, ingested foreign body is a problem commonly seen in the adult patients. Paediatric patients constituted about 6.5% of all cases of ingested foreign body. In adults and older children who are able to communicate, the management is usually straight forward. However, the diagnosis of ingested foreign body in a prelingual child may pose a problem as the child is unable to talk. A high index of suspicion is needed in the diagnosis of ingested foreign body. This article presents a case of undiagnosed ingested foreign body causing pharyngeal perforation with retropharyngeal abscess in a two year-old boy. The management of ingested foreign body in young children is discussed.