ABSTRACT

Swallowing foreign bodies is a common clinical problem. Especially sharp and pointed objects can cause life-threatening complications such as obstruction, gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding or intestinal perforation. In this article, we aimed to report our experience and results of patients who underwent endoscopy in our clinic due to foreign body ingestion.

Records of adult patients, who underwent endoscopy with a pre-diagnosis of foreign body in the GI tract in Mersin University Medical Faculty Department of Gastroenterology between 2013 and 2018, were retrospectively evaluated using the hospital data recording system. Demographic characteristics, anamnesis information, radiographs and endoscopy findings were evaluated.

A total of 52 patients were included in the study. Thirty-four (65.3%) patients with the mean age of 45.3±17.81 years were male and eight (34.6%) with the mean age of 47.7±4.18 years were female. Nineteen (36.5%) of the detected foreign bodies were bony meat and fish bones, 12 (23.0%) were meat without bone and solid food. Fishbone, chicken bone and dental prostheses were the most common foreign bodies, especially in the elderly. Thirty-four point six of the foreign bodies were detected in the esophagus and 72% in the upper esophagus. Nineteen point two percent in the stomach and 3.8% of them were in the duodenum and were removed by endoscopy. Upper GI endoscopy was normal in 42.3% of patients who were followed by X-ray.

In our series, the most common ingested foreign bodies were fish bones, bony and boneless meat, bezoar, prosthetic teeth, toothpicks and nails. Foreign bodies were found most frequently in the upper part of the esophagus. None of them required surgical treatment; either passed spontaneously or endoscopic removal was performed. There was no mortality or morbidity in any of our patients.