Adults ingesting a foreign body: how to manage it in ER

• Main Authors: Sonia Cuneo, Valentina Canepa, Stefania Vignolo, Susy Laforge, Maria Paola Saggese
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2009-08-01
• Series: Emergency Care Journal
• Online Access: http://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/ecj/article/view/1232

Ingestion of a foreign body is a relatively frequent reason to seek treatment in the Emergency Department and it is often treated based on the personal experience of the Emergency physician. It is the authors’ opinion that a definition to identify levels of risk should be developed so as to pursue the best strategic therapy. The Emergency Department doctor must eliminate the possibility of major complications due to aspiration, perforation, occlusion, etc. and prevent them from occurring by early identification and localization of the object ingested. This results in identifying patient treatment: either emergency treatment, deferred emergency treatment or home observation with a regular medical visit follow-up. Pediatric cases present significant diversity in both epidemiology and treatment and therefore must be treated separately from adult cases.