A clinical study of foreign bodies in air passages

Abstract

Vegetable matter, especially the cotyledons of groundnuts were the commonest cause of foreign body inhalation in a study of 32 cases. The foreign body was lodged in the right bronchus in 12 patients and in the left bronchus in 8. A history of sudden choking and cough while eating was available in most patients. In three, such a history was ignored and a wrong diagnosis of diphtheria, pneumonia and bronchitis was made. It is stressed that the diagnosis of foreign body inhalation should be considered in all cases of chest infection responding poorly to the usual treatment.