Abstract

HINOJOS GALLARDO, Luis Carlos; SILVA BARRAGAN, Mauricio; ESCOBEDO SANCHEZ, Moisés Dante  and  ALEJANDRE GARCIA, Alejandro. Delayed diagnosis of foreign body aspiration. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2011, vol.68, n.3, pp.220-224. ISSN 1665-1146.

Background. Aspiration of foreign bodies in the central airway is a common problem in the pediatric population, representing a major cause of morbidity and mortality in our country. In the U.S., foreign body aspiration is the cause for 7% of accidental deaths in children between 1 and 3 years of age. Clinical diagnosis requires a high degree of suspicion in the medical history especially when the choking event is unclear in the clinical history because physical examination and radiological findings have a low sensitivity. Case report. We present the case of a 14-year-old male with a history of foreign body aspiration. The patient's symptoms were given little importance. A 1-year delay in diagnosis occurred due to symptoms mimicking other pathologies. The patient was referred to the Pediatric Pulmonology Unit "Fernando Katz" of the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases where bronchoscopic exploration was performed with removal of foreign body (plastic object) from the intermediary bronchus. Conclusions. Delayed diagnosis causes respiratory problems ranging from life-threatining airway obstruction to chronic respiratory symptoms such as wheezing and recurrent respiratory infections. It has been shown that these symptoms can be confused with other pathologies such as asthma.

Keywords : foreign body aspiration; children; bronchoscopy; delayed diagnosis.

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