Shahid Imran, Asim Iqbal.
Tracheobronchial Foreign Bodies in Children: Experience at Mayo Hospital, Lahore.
Ann King Edward Med Uni Jan ;7(1):29-31.

One hundred and eight cases of children with inhaled Foreign Body (F.B) are reviewed over, a five years period (April 1993 to April 1998) at ENT Unit-1, Mayo Hospital Lahore. Following factors were evaluated: Sex, Age, nature of FB, localization in respiratory tree, clinical symptoms, radiological findings, time lapse between diagnosis and removal. Peak incidence 76% was in children under 3 years of age with a male female ratio of 3:1. The most frequently inhaled FB`s were organic in nature. The time lapse between inhalation and removal of the FB was as follows, in 48% the object was removed within 24 hours, in 38%. within 48 hours in 10% it was removed within one week and in 3.7% it took more than 3 weeks.. In 62% of the cases the right bronchus was involved while in 19.4% the left side was involved in the rest FB was localized in glottis, subglottis or trachea. The most frequent symptoms were cough, stridor , dyspnoea and wheezing. In all but 4 cases FB was removed under general anaesthesia with the help of rigid bronchoscpe, in the rest flexible bronchoscope was used. There was no mortality. In majority of cases a history of FB inhalation was available, but in 16 cases no such history was forthcoming and bronchoscopy was done to exclude FB because the patients had persistent cough with episodes of dyspnoea.

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