A Clinical Study on 63 Cases with Foreign Bodies of the Tracheo-bronchial Tree

Abstract

A review was made on 63 cases (males: females=43:20) with various kinds of foreign bodies of the tracheobronchial tree treated mainly at the ENT Department of Hirosaki University and at the Central Hospital of Aomori Prefecture. The youngest among the 63 cases was 6 month-old baby boy and the eldest was 63 year-old male. Bronchoscopic removal of foreign bodies was carried out without general anesthesia on 21 cases who were seen before 1967, whereas since 1968, ventilation bronchoscopy under general anesthesia has been in use when necessary. Postbronchoscopic tracheostomy was necessitated in only 1 case.The 63 foreign bodies were classified into two categories, i. e. non-radiopaque and radiopaque, and the ratio was 45:18. Among the non-radiopaque foreign bodies, there were peanuts (24 cases), beans, seeds, corns or other vegetables (9 cases), pieces of meat (3 cases), plastic pencil cap (4 cases), plastic bullet of toy gun (2 cases), a part of plastic toy (2 cases) and celluloid pipe (1 case). Sixteen among the 24 cases with peanuts were under 2 years of age (males: females=11:5). The radiopaque foreign bodies were: needles (2 cases), drawing pin (2 cases), nail, single false tooth, head of ball-point pen, staple, screw of compass and dental reamer (1 case each). Among those, 2 staples located in the lingular division and a pin located in the right upper anterior bronchus (B3α) were removed under X-ray TV monitoring.