ECH Chung, TYW Hon, KP Leung, FL Lau

Abstract

A prospective 4-month survey was conducted at our hospital to look into paediatric patients presenting with suspected lodgement of swallowed foreign bodies. Eighty-eight consecutive cases were collected and 93% of accidents were meal-related with fish bone representing the single most common variety of foreign bodies swallowed. Presentation was uniformly early and the foreign body confirmation rate was 54.5%. The clinical picture generally paralleled that seen in local adults but differed markedly from paediatric series reported elsewhere. Prevention here should emphasize more on educating parents! guardians in food preparation than on play supervision. Discharge against medical advice rate was found to be high (18%) and it should be cut down. The means of achieving this were briefly discussed.

本文報告我院一項為期四個月關於疑為異物咽下聚積的兒童的前瞻性調查。共連續收集了八十八個病例。93%的病例與食物有關。而其中由魚骨引起的情況是一項常見的原因。就診時間全部為早期。54.5%確診為異物。臨床表現大致上與本地區成人發病相似。但是明顯異於其他地區報告的兒童病例。本文提示：相對於關心孩子玩耍時的意外，預防措施應更加著重教育家長/監護人正確準備食物。在本組病人中自動出院率較高（18%）。這應該盡量減少。本文簡要討論了達到這一目的的方法。