Persisting perfusion defects after bronchoscopic removal or spontaneous expulsion of aspirated foreign objects

Follow-up lung scans were obtained in 9 children to determine whether perfusion lung scanning could be used to verify completeness of foreign-body removal. In 4 patients, extensive perfusion defects were present 4-19 days after removal of the object. In 1 patient, the area of hypoperfusion was larger than the territory served by a persistently obstructed lobar bronchus. Follow-up lung scans are of limited value for verifying completeness of foreign-body removal and localization of retained fragments.