| Home | E-Submission | Sitemap | Contact Us |  
top_img
J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 12(4); 2001 > Article
Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2001;12(4): 359-368.
Removal of Esophageal Blunt Foreign Bodies by Using a Foley Balloon Catheter in the Emergency Department
Gi Woon Kim, Si Young Kim, Christopher C Lee, Chol Kim, Yoon Seok Jung
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea. ysjung@madang.ajou.ac.kr
2Department of Emergency Medicine, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, New York, USA.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In most cases of a foreign body in the esophagus, an ENT specialist is consulted, which may be time consuming if not evaluated in a timely fashion. The patients are admitted to the hospital and sent to the operating room, where they are placed under anesthesia and the object is removed by using an esophagoscope.
METHODS:
A prospective randomized trial was conducted during the period from January 1998 to June 2000. All patients presenting to emergency department with blunt objects in the esophagus were included. In one group, with fluoroscopic guidance, a Foley catheter was placed to remove the blunt foreign bodies. And in the other group, we removed them by using the esophagoscpe. We used the t-test for statistical analysis in this study.
RESULTS:
Total number of patients enrolled in this study was 38. 22 patients were enrolled in the Foley Catheter removal group, and the remaining 16 were enrolled in the esophagoscope removal group. The success rate for the Foley catheter was 21/22(95.5%), and that for the esophagoscope was 15/16(93.8%). The average time of removal for the Foley catheter group was 0.70+/-0.28 hours while that for the esophagoscope group was 5.96+/-2.22 hours. One side effect, nonfatal hypoxia, was noted in the Foley catheter removal group. The average cost for the Foley catheter group were 78,800 won(approximately 60 US dollars) while that for the esophagoscope group took 722,800 won(approximately 600 US dollars).
CONCLUSION:
In our study, we found that the success rate for removing blunt foreign bodies from the esophagus by using a simple Foley catheter was high, also the Foley catheter was a time saving and cost effective procedure with an excellent safety profile.
Key words: Esophageal foreign body, Foreign body removal, Balloon Foley catheter
Editorial Office
The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
TEL: +82-62-226-1780   FAX: +82-62-224-3501   E-mail: 5151649@naver.com
About |  Browse Articles |  Current Issue |  For Authors and Reviewers
Copyright © The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine.                 Developed in M2PI