Tracheal foreign body-Importance of early diagnosis

Abstract

Foreign body aspiration is a common cause for a respiratory emergency in young children. It can be a life-threatening event if we don´t act quickly, especially, when foreign bodies are in larynx or trachea. The prevention of these children's accidents and clinical suspect, are crucial, fi rst to decreased their incidence and second to avoid the complications that may happen for delay in diagnosis.We report a case of a child with incomplete tracheal obstruction after a sunfl ower seed aspiration with personal history of recurrent wheezing, which made diffi cult the initial diagnosis, with complete resolution after removing it by rigid bronchoscopy. We highlight the importance of an exhaustive anamnesis in cases of bronchospasm and cough with poor outcome and the possibility that the chest X-ray may have no abnormalities despite having the foreign body (FB) into the larynx or trachea (and even bronchial), as well as the paper of fl exible bronchoscopy for diagnostic doubts or airways examination, and rigid bronchoscopy as the best technique for remove foreign bodies in children airways.