Yield of preoperative findings in pediatric airway foreign bodies - A meta-analysis

A Foreign Body Lodged in the Glottis of a Toddler for a Prolonged Time: Anatomical Considerations and Review of the Literature

Our scope is to present the unusual case of an impacted foreign body in a child's larynx for a prolonged period due to recurrent misdiagnosis and review the literature emphasizing the laryngeal foreign body. A toddler girl from a rural region was initially referred to a primary pediatric care center due to a sudden choking episode. The mother made an unsuccessful attempt to pull out a possible foreign body by blind finger sweeping. After 22 days of recurrent misdiagnosis and unsuccessful conservative therapies, the child developed hoarseness of voice and dyspnea during physical exertion. The patient underwent a flexible nasopharyngolaryngeal endoscopy, which observed a foreign body in the glottis, and an emergency microlaryngoscopy. Persistence of laryngeal symptoms in a child with a sudden choking episode should always raise the suspicion of a respiratory tract foreign body impaction. The most appropriate therapeutical approach is rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia.

PEANUTS: a national survey on the management of pediatric tracheobronchial foreign bodies

To assess the different types of management of pediatric foreign body aspirations in order to help define guidelines, depending on clinical presentation. A national survey in France was emailed to all 30 university-affiliated departments of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and pediatric pulmonologists in France. Data concerning the center and the experience of each participant were collected in order to define an "senior expert" group with experience of extracting more than 10 foreign bodies and a "junior/non-expert" group. Both groups answered questions concerning five clinical cases of foreign body aspiration of different severities. Ninety-eight participants answered this survey (75 otolaryngologists and 23 pulmonologists), representing 28 of the 30 university-affiliated departments in France with a completion rate of 89%. Responses of the senior expert group were similar for clear-cut situations, such as an asymptomatic child with a low probability of foreign body aspiration and for a symptomatic child with respiratory distress. However, for intermediate situations, management varied significantly according to the physician when considering clinical, radiological, and surgical management. In comparison to the senior expert group, the junior non-expert group seemed more precautious in the management of foreign body aspiration for intermediate cases, in particular, concerning the time at which extraction was performed.  Conclusion: The management of foreign body aspiration depends on the physician's experience and the center's habits. In order to optimize patient care for foreign body aspiration, we suggested a management algorithm based on the senior expert group responses. What is Known: • Foreign body aspirations (FBA) are dreaded by pediatricians, pediatric otolaryngologists, and pulmonologists particularly because of the potential fatal outcome. • However, consensus concerning their management is not clearly defined in the literature. What is New: • This study is the first to evaluate the management of foreign body aspirations (FBA) from the clinical assessment by the emergency medicine physician to the extraction of the foreign body. • A management algorithm was designed and secondarily validated by the SE group to help to emergency medicine physician and specialist to manage FBA.

Step-by-step development and evaluation of a 3D printed home-made low-cost pediatric tracheobronchial tree for foreign body aspiration extractions

OBJECTIVES

The management of foreign body aspirations (FBA) is dreaded by pediatric physicians due to the high risk of respiratory distress and a potential fatal outcome, favored by a lack of experience of young specialists. Furthermore, there has been an increasing requirement for low-cost simulation. The aim was to describe the step-by-step manufacturing process and to validate a low-cost, easily home-made training model of pediatric tracheo-bronchial tree (pTBT) for simulation-based training in order to teach young physicians to practice foreign body (FBA) extractions.

METHODS

A simulator was designed in order to reproduce the physical and esthetic properties of a pTBT. The production cost of a single simulator was estimated. The simulator was then tested by experienced physicians using a rigid bronchoscope. A manufacturing manual of the simulator is hereby presented. A group of 7 experienced pediatric otolaryngologists performed a FBA extraction in the conditions of installation of an operating room.

RESULTS

The result of the survey showed a high fidelity of the simulator in mimicking the biological esthetics and physical properties of a pTBT during a FBA extraction (mean 4.3 ± 0.8). The total cost of the custom-made simulator is about 20.5 € ($23.4) for the production of the first simulator.

CONCLUSIONS

A highly realistic and easily reproducible pediatric tracheo-bronchial tree simulator is presented and can therefore be used during simulation-based training.