Endoscopic management of foreign body in the upper gastrointestinal tract: a tertiary care center experience.

BACKGROUND: Foreign body (FB) in the upper gastrointestinal tract (UGIT) is a common clinical problem in endoscopic practice. At present, many physicians recommend endoscopy for both diagnosis and treatment. To date, few have report endoscopic findings and management of FB in UGIT.

OBJECTIVE: To report the authors' experience and outcome of the endoscopic management of foreign body ingestion at Siriraj Hospital.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Medical records of patients with FB ingestion in the UGIT, who underwent endoscopic management between January 2004 and January 2008 at Siriraj Hospital, were reviewed.

RESULTS: The analysis included 34 patients of which 58.82% were men. The mean age of the group was 18.26 years (range 10 months - 86 years). 58.82% of patients were younger than 5 years. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) was performed in 100% of cases, under general anesthesia (GA) in 85.29%, and under transintravenous anesthesia (TIVA) in 14.71%. Endoscopic management was successful in all cases. The extractions were done with rat-tooth forceps, polypectomy snare, dormia basket, or tripods. There were no procedure related complications.

CONCLUSION: The ingested FB varied widely according to the underlying medical condition and age. In a tertiary care center endoscopic removal of FB in UGIT could be safely performed with a very good result.