[The diagnosis and treatment of special airway foreign body]

The aim of this study was to discuss the diagnosis and treatment of special airway foreign body.

Clinical data of 69 patients with airway foreign body were analyzed,of which 45 patients underwent rigid bronchoscopy while another 24 patients underwent tracheotomy.

The operations succeeded in 43 of the 45 patients who underwent rigid bronchoscopy, while the other 2 patients died of respiratory failure because of the foreign body slipping off at the level of the glottis. All of the 24 other patients were cured, in which continuous saturation of blood oxygen below 90% occurred in 8 patients and turned normal after positive airway pressure in intensive care unit (ICU). The total cure rate reached 97.1%.

Most of special foreign body in the airway can be taken out through tracheotomy under general anesthesia. If the foreign body is too big and irregularly, or the patients is too young or have the pulmonary atelectasis, it is much safer to remove foreign body by tracheotomy.