Investigating the Location and Types of Aspirated Foreign Bodies in the Airway of Hospitalized Patients

 Foreign body aspirations (FBAs) comprise the majority of accidental childhood deaths. The present study aimed to investigate the location and types of aspirated foreign bodies in hospitalized patients’ airways.

 In this cross-sectional study, the medical records of all consecutive patients with a primary diagnosis of FBA were reviewed retrospectively from 2019 to 2022. We extracted demographic profile (age and gender), type of aspirated foreign body, clinical manifestation at the time of presentation, clinical signs according to physical examination, and the time duration between presentation to hospital and removal of aspirated foreign body.

 Of 101 patients, 65 were male, and most were under 4 years old. Nuts (53.5%) and organic bits (30.7%) were the most common aspirated foreign bodies. The bronchus (69.4%) was the most common location of aspirated foreign bodies. Most of the organic pieces (96.8%) and nuts (87%) were seen in the age group below 4 years old and also most of the cases of plastic pieces were related to children aged 4 to 18 years (P<0.001). Cough and shortness of breath (68.3%) were the most common clinical complaints. Most patients with FBA in the trachea (65%) and bronchus (74%) had a normal clinical examination and a significant difference was observed between the clinical signs and location of the foreign body (P<0.001). Fifty-four patients (53.5%) underwent foreign body intervention and removal less than 24 hours after aspiration.

 A high frequency of FBA in children, especially in infants and toddlers, is due to starting feeding. It is very important to consider the differences in the types and locations of the aspirated object. Therefore, early rigid bronchoscopy is effective for inhaled foreign body removal with fewer complications.