TY - JOUR T1 - Metal detector and swallowed metal foreign bodies in children. JF - Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine JO - Arch Emerg Med SP - 123 LP - 125 DO - 10.1136/emj.16.2.123 VL - 16 IS - 2 AU - N V Doraiswamy AU - H Baig AU - L Hallam Y1 - 1999/03/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/16/2/123.abstract N2 - OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a metal detector to diagnose swallowed radio-opaque metal foreign bodies (MFBs) in children, and whether they can detect non-radio-opaque MFBs. METHODS: In a prospective study, 231 children, who presented to the accident and emergency department with a history of swallowing MFBs, were evaluated by the metal detector as well as radiography to confirm and locate the presence or absence of MFBs. RESULTS: A definite history of swallowing a MFB by the child was given by 186 (81%) parents. The metal detector located MFBs in 183 children and radiographs confirmed radio-opaque MFBs in 181. In the remaining 45 (19%), when swallowing was suspected and not definite, both metal detector and radiography confirmed the presence of a MFB in only four. CONCLUSION: A high detection rate of swallowed MFBs was observed in this study, using a metal detector. It is also of value to detect non-radio-opaque MFBs like aluminium. The detection of MFBs is high when the history of swallowing is definite. ER -