Retained oesophageal foreign bodies - report of three cases

Incarceration of foreign bodies in the oesophagus is a welknown clinical problem. Either children in the first decade of life or adults between 50 and 60 years of age are the commoner victims. Types of oesophageal foreign bodies differ according to age, being toys and coins in the childhood and dental prosthesis, fish bones or bone splinters in adulthood. Severe oesophageal injury due to incarceration of foreign bodies is exceptional in children but rule in adults. Foreign bodies can be retrieved from the oesophagus successfully in 99% cases with a mortality of less than 0.2%. Three cases have been discussed here, all having retained foreign bodies in their oesophagus for varying length of time with unique problems. Different management strategies were planned and successfully applied in these cases. All of them survived and doing well after reasonable period of follow up.