Extraction of foreign bodies from the upper gastrointestinal tract (а literature review)

Abstract

Introduction. Swallowing foreign bodies is a common case in children which can cause a large number of complications. The statistics informs that 80% of cases are met in children aged from 6 months to 6 years. Late detection of foreign bodies is associated with a high risk of life-threatening complications. Timely detection and removal of foreign bodies is a relevant problem in modern medicine. Material and methods. A literature review was made by keywords on the diagnostics and treatment of foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract in databases Scholar, Pubmed, Medline, Google.Results. On analyzing the obtained literature data, the authors describe in details types of the approach to diagnose and remove foreign bodies in the gastrointestinal tract. Two large options were identified: non-endoscopic and endoscopic. Besides, the authors make a review of other unique techniques for removing foreign bodies proposed by various authors.Conclusions. The obtained and analyzed literature data demonstrate that even the authors who offer different curative options recognize that endoscopy is the most safe and effective one for removing various objects. However, despite the obvious advantages of endoscopy in removing foreign bodies, it should be borne in mind that this technique is possible to apply only under certain conditions: namely, proper equipments and hospital setting, as well as experienced and trained personnel.