The Characteristic And Outcome Of Foreign Body (fb) In Children In The State Of Qatar

Abstract

Background: There are many children who present with a problem of Foreign Body (FB) that can be inserted in different orifices of their body like nose, ears or that are ingested in to their gut or being aspirated to their trachea or bronchioles. FB can be even life threating especially in case of chocking and potential of obstructing child's airway, or ingestion of sharp objects, magnetics, or batteries that may contribute to a lot of morbidity. The intervention to retrieve these FB are different according to the content of FB, location, shape, and child's clinical presentation. Therefore we are planning to study the prevalence of FB in children in our community for the purpose to increase public health awareness to decrease these events from happening again. Objectives: The prevalence, characteristics and outcomes of FB in children in the state of Qatar. Methods: It's a retrospective study, to study all children who presented in 2013 with a problem related to FB to Pediatric Emergency Centers (PECS) in Qatar. PECS are the main pediatric emergency center in the state of Qatar with approximately 200,000 visits annually. Results: There were a total of 697 cases of FB presented to PEC last year. 316 FB in alimentary tract, 178 FB in respiratory tract, 85 FB in Ears, 93 FB in nostrils, and 25 FB in conjunctival sac. Majority of patients with FB in respiratory tract required admission to hospital for bronchoscopy. More data will be available on the presentation date Conclusions: Increase awareness of high risk of FB ingestion or aspiration in small children in Qatar.