Danyal Rashid, Bashir Ahmed, Sher Mohammad, Amer Sabih Hydri, Khurshid Anwar.
Foreign Body; Tracheobronchial Tree.
Pak Armed Forces Med J Jan ;49(2):114-6.

A foreign body in the tracheobronchial tree, often fatal, is quite a common occurrence mainly in children. Twenty six cases with suspicion of foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree, were managed over a period of two and half years (January 1997 to June 1999) at the Dept of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck surgery, Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi. Male to female ratio was 2.3:1. The common symptoms were sudden onset of dyspnoea of variable, intensity, cough and stridor. Peanut was the object retrieved in majority of the cases. Most of the cases were between age group of eight months to five years. Majority of patients presented within the first 24 hours of aspiration of a foreign body. In 23 patients the foreign body was found and removed. Right main bronchus was the commonest site of impaction followed by left main bronchus and trachea. Foreign body aspiration should be suspected in children who present with sudden onset to respiratory symptoms even in the absence of history of aspiration.

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