Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Handheld Metal Detector Screening for Metallic Foreign Body Ingestion in Children
Published on: September 11, 2018
Suspected esophageal coin--look again
Kenneth Frumkin1, Michael Lanker1
1Naval Medical Center, 620 John Paul Jones Circle, Portsmouth, VA, 23708, USA.
Abstract:
A 4-year-old presented to the emergency department, asymptomatic, with the strong suspicion (by history, physical examination, and initial radiographic interpretation by the emergency physician) of an esophageal coin. Closer inspection revealed radiographic signs associated with disk battery ingestion, a surgical emergency. In the operating room superimposed coins, mimicking the radiographic appearance of a disk (button) battery, were extracted. This case highlights the important management differences between ingested coins and batteries, the need for cautious interpretation of radiographs, and presents a rare mimic of a serious ingestion.
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