Emergency Endoscopic Management of Pediatric Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Foreign Bodies: A North Indian Study

Abstract

Introduction: Ingestion of a foreign body (FB) is a common pediatric emergency seen in daily clinical practice all over. Scarce data on this problem is available from this part of the world. Methods: We present our experience over four years about the spectrum of foreign bodies presenting to a gastrointestinal endoscopy (GI) centre and their subsequent management. Data was collected from all consecutive patients with FB ingestion presenting to our endoscopy center from January 2015 to December 2018. The demographic data, clinical presentation and endoscopic management was reviewed and analyzed. Results: A total of 130 patients with suspected FB ingestion underwent endoscopic management. 130 FBs were found in 130 patients with suspected FB. Scarf pin was most common type seen in 69 % cases followed by coins in 10.7 % cases. Button battery was noted in 7.7 % patients. Most of the FBs were located in the stomach (69 %) followed by esophagus (13.8 %). The majority of patients (94.4 %) were successfully removed with flexible endoscopy with the addition of suitable devices without any serious procedure-related or anesthesia -related complications. Conclusion: In this part of the world the pattern and types of Upper gastrointestinal (UGI) tract foreign bodies in pediatric population is unique not seen elsewhere across the globe. Early endoscopic management was found to be highly safe and efficacious.