Foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree. Special references to experience in 97 children

The case records of 110 patients (97 children and 13 grown-ups) with foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree during a period of 14 years (1970-1983) are reviewed. Atypical histories, misleading clinical and radiological findings and delayed diagnoses due to misinterpretations by the patients or their physicians were seen from time to time. Other findings in this survey were that organic material prevailed, with the majority of the objects in the right bronchial tree; there was a male predominance and the most common age for inhalation of a foreign body was about two years. Bronchoscopic extraction was the routine and only in one boy had the object to be removed by the transthoracic route. The venturi technique with oxygenation through the bronchoscope was applied at the extraction procedures. This principle for ventilation during general anaesthesia creates excellent working conditions for the endoscopist. The hazard at the removal of a foreign body is thereby reduced.