Abstract

Background: Aspirated foreign bodies, an emergency situation, affecting children mostly in the first decade of life, either go undetected, are misdiagnosed or discovered unexpectedly. The purpose of this study was to determine the common radiological findings among children with suspected foreign body inhalation at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the Department of ENT, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, from April 2017 to October 2017. All patients (n=141) were subjected to detailed history and clinical examination. X ray chest (AP and lateral views) was performed to detect common radiological findings i.e., radiopaque foreign body (FB), pneumonia, emphysema, atelectasis and air trapping. The age and gender-stratified radiological findings were analyzed using Chi square test to see effect modifications, with P-value < .05 as statistically significant.Results: In this study, mean age was 8±3.563 years, with most of the children with suspected FB inhalation presenting in the 1-6 years age group (n=82; 58%). Sixty percent children were male while 40% were female, with emphysema (28%) and air trapping (25%) as the most common radiological findings. Radiopaque FB was detected in 16% of children on X-ray chest.Conclusions: Children with suspected foreign bodies should be thoroughly evaluated by both clinical and radiological examination.