Abstract

LOPEZ ALMARALES, Felipe. Morbidity due to a foreign body in the esophagus. MEDISAN [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.9, pp.2158-2163. ISSN 1029-3019.

A descriptive and cross-sectional study of some clinical aspects related to morbidity due to a foreign body in the esophagus of 118 patients enrolled during 2008 at the Otolaryngology Service in ¨Saturnino Lora¨ Clinical Surgical Hospital from Santiago de Cuba was carried out, in which case main variables such as age, gender, foreign body's type and location, clinical manifestations, complications, and tests made to detect it were considered. Suspicion of its presence in this membranous muscular duct (mainly fishbones and other kinds of bones) was frequently observed in the upper-third region of young men. Disphagya, syalorrhea, and retrosternal pain, although in less proportion, were the most common symptoms. They were totally related to the location where the foreign body was lodged. Perioesophagitis became the most common complication, mainly in those persons who took time to go to see a doctor. X-rays exams greatly confirmed diagnosis, particularly esophagoscopy.

Keywords : foreign body; esophagus; disphagya; perioesophagitis; esophagoscopy; secondary health care.

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