0071643192.pdf

DISPOSITION

■ Eighty to ninety percent of objects pass spontaneously; ten percent

require further intervention.

■ Esophageal foreign bodies may be managed in the ED or admitted.

■ Patients with small smooth objects that have passed the esophagus may be

discharged and followed with serial imaging and stool monitoring.

■ Esophageal perforation requires emergent surgery.

ABDOMINAL AND GASTROINTESTINAL

EMERGENCIES

FIGURE 11.1. Posteroanterior (A) and lateral (B) chest X-rays, showing esophageal

foreign body.

(Reproduced, with permission, from Stone CK, Humphries, RL. Current Emergency Diagnosis

and Treatment, 5th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004:1092.)

A

B

Ninety percent of esophageal

foreign bodies pass

spontaneously.