Management of foreign bodies in children’s upper digestive tract at Parakou, Benin

Abstract

Introduction: Foreign bodies (FB) of the upper digestive tract (UDT) are specific to children. The objective of this study was to report the epidemiological, diagnostic and course of foreign bodies of the digestive tract of children in Parakou. Method: This was a retrospective study conducted from January 2014 to December 2018, in the ENT departments of the regional teaching hospital of Borgou and the Boko Hospital. Included in this study were all children admitted for ingestion of foreign bodies whose age was under 15 years. Results: Thirty-seven cases of pharyngeal foreign bodies and the child's esophagus were recorded, 46% of the children's ENT foreign bodies (80cases) during the study period. The sex ratio was 1.64. The average age of children was 3.61±2.15 years with the extremes of 07 months and 08 years. Children under 4 were the most predominant of the series (70%). A proportion of 21/37 (56%) children had consulted in less than 24 hours. Hypersalivation was the main symptom (84.85% of cases). A cervico-thoracic X-ray was performed in all children. The most frequent location of foreign bodies were the hypopharynx and the mouth of the esophagus (75.68%). Fibroscopy with a rigid tube under general anesthesia in emergency condition had enabled the extraction of all the foreign bodies. Coin-type non-organic foreign bodies were the most common with 29 cases (78.4%). The course was favorable in 95% of the cases. Complications identified were necrotic lesions in the oesophagus mouth with laryngeal involvement and respiratory distress in a case of flat battery ingestion. Conclusion: Ingestion of foreign bodies is relatively common within children. The non-organic foreign bodies recovered were mainly the coins. The natural course was favorable in the majority of the cases. Nevertheless the presence of flat battery in the digestive tract is to be scared.