Clinical analysis on 418 children cases with tracheobronchial foreign body

Objective To investigate the clinical pathological features of children cases with tracheobronchial foreign bodies and to sum up the experience with diagnosis and treatment for this condition.Methods A retrospective study was carried out among 418 children cases with tracheobronchial foreign bodies treated in our Hospital from 1,1998 to 12,2003.All these cases were operated on under general or local anesthesia, with bronchoscopy and/or foreign body removing performed during this time.Results Among this group of children cases, 287 were found with foreign bodies in trachea or bronchus(68.7%),62 with purulent secretion aspirated from trachea and/or bronchus(14.8%),69 with no foreign bodies found in trachea and bronchus(16.5%). Furthermore,145 cases were found with the foreign bodies in the right main bronchus(50.5%),78 were with the foreign bodies in the left main bronchus(27.2%),12 cases with the foreign bodies in both sides of bronchus(4.2%),and 52 cases in trachea(18.1%) among the 287 cases with foreign bodies found.The most frequently found foreign bodies wrer peanut,seed and bean.Conclusions For the diagnosis of children cases with tracheobronchial foreign bodies, it is very important to collect the detailed ill history of foreign body inhalation and to put more attention on careful analysis on the findings from chest radiographs.Only in this way, avoided can be the delay of diagnosis. The key measure to prevent this condition from occurring should be healthy care education to the parents of children and themselves.