Tracheo-bronchial foreign bodies: our experience at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Tracheo- bronchial foreign bodies have always posed a challenge to the ENT surgeon as they present with varied symptomatology ranging from a simple cough and fever to more grave respiratory distress. It requires a strong suspicion, early diagnosis and timely intervention to reduce the overall morbidity and mortality .This study was undertaken to highlight our experiences in handling cases of tracheo- bronchial foreign bodies (FB) at our setup. Methods: It is a retrospective case series study conducted in S. Nijalingappa Medical College between January 2011 and January 2015. Results: Most commonly affected were children between 1year to 3years of age. Chronic cough and wheeze were the commonest presenting symptoms. Vegetative foreign body was found to be the commonest variety of foreign body. The mortality rate in our study was 4.7% (n=3). Conclusions: A good clinical acumen, team work, early diagnosis and timely intervention are all needed to reduce the overall mortality and morbidity associated with tracheo- bronchial foreign bodies.