EMERGENCY CASEBOOK
Lodged oesophageal button battery masquerading as a coin: an unusual cause of bilateral vocal cord paralysis
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, UK
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
J M Bernstein
Department of ENT, St Michael’s Hospital, Southwell Street, Bristol BS2 8EH, UK; jbernstein{at}nhs.net
An 11-month-old girl with an oesophageal foreign bodywas presented: from the radiographic appearance it was presumed to be a coin. Microlaryngoscopy 5 h after ingestion revealed a button battery impacted in the hypopharynx with severe damage to the oesophageal mucosa. The patient was intubated for 6 days in the intensive care unit because of stridor and respiratory distress. Repeat microlaryngoscopy demonstrated bilateral vocal cord palsy, which was presumed to be secondary to the involvement of the recurrent laryngeal nerves in the injury. We recommend that in the absence of a history of observed ingestion, it should be assumed that coin-like foreign bodies are button batteries until proven otherwise.
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
