Tracheobronchial foreign body aspiration under general anesthesia because of the retrospective evaluation of patients who underwent rigid bronchoscopy

Introduction: Foreign body aspiration (FBA) has almost become a problem with the development of mankind, and perhaps eating habits. Nowadays, it has found its place as a major cause of death, particularly in children, with the development of industrialized consumer society. However, the development in anesthesia and bronchoscopy as well as the accurate removal of the foreign body in time has caused a significant decrease in mortality rate. This study aims to determine the type of foreign body and its location by a retrospective observation of patients with FBA, which is a significant social issue.The clinical findings and complications caused by FBA are also considered and therefore based on the past experience, the correct diagnosis and treatment will be determined. Applying rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia in this context, foreign bodies removed demographic characteristics of patients, anesthetic agents are used, seen during and after the process was evaluated in terms of complications and mortality. Materials and Methods: This study includes patients with FBA admitted to Dicle University, Faculty of Medicine, thoracic surgery operating room undergone rigid bronchoscopy between January 2007 and December 2012 in days and nights. Patients were retrospectively evaluated in terms of age, gender, symptoms, physical examination, radiological images, the location of foreign body, the type of anesthesia and complications developed during and after operation. Patients undergoing diagnostic bronchoscopy but having no FBA were excluded from the study. Drugs employed for anesthetic applications in patients were also recorded. Results: In this study, 240 patients with initial diagnosis of tracheal-bronchial foreign bodies were evaluated where foreign bodies were detected in 199 (82.9%) of patients (n=240) and no foreign body was detected in 40 (17.1%) patients. In 240 patients, 43.3% (n = 104) were female, 56.7% (n =136) were male. Theirmean age was found as 5.85±9.59 (ranging from 1 to 56 years) years. The rate of aspirated organic foreign bodies was 57.1's% while that ofinorganic foreign was 42.9%. The seeds parts were encountered as the most common foreign (21.2%). The right main bronchus were found to be the most frequent localization ofaspired foreign bodies with 37.5% (n=90), followed by left bronchus with 16.2% (n=39). Air trapping was the most frequent radiological findings with 102 cases (42.5%), followed by normal lungimagesin 81 patients (33.75%) and foreign body image in 25 cases (10.4%). Physical examination findings include wheezingin 96 cases (40%), stridor in 52cases (21.7%) and unilateral decreased breath sounds in 72 cases (30%). Symptoms found in patients admitted with suspicion of foreign bodies involve 60.8% (146) of the shortness of breath, 60.4% (145) of the cough, 20.4% (49) of the wheezing,5.4% (13) of general poor health.