Foreign Body Aspiration in Children: Review of 198 Cases from Anesthesiology Perspective

Background: Tracheobronchial foreign body aspiration is an emergency in childhood. Rigid bronchoscopy is used for diagnosis and treatment. In our retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate anesthesia man-agement, age, gender, intraoperative blood pressure, pulse, saturation, intraoperative and postoperative complications, foreign body type and localization and length of hospitalization.Materials and Methods: The file of 198 pediatric patients who underwent rigid bronchoscopy by pediatric surgery with the diagnosis of foreign body aspiration in Harran University Medical Faculty Hospital be-tween 2016-2018 were retrospectively analyzed. All cases were managed under general anesthesia. The anesthesia management, age, gender, intraoperative blood pressure, pulse, saturation, intraoperative and postoperative complications, foreign body and localization, length of stay were obtained from patient records and retrospectively evaluated.Results: Localization of foreign bodies were found to be 4.5% in trachea, 48% in right main bronchus and 33.9% in the left main bronchus. 25.3% of foreign bodies were seed, 25.62% were peanuts and 5.62% were organic substances such as beans, needle was removed in 7.6% cases, and toy pieces was removed in 9.6% cases respectively. Low levels of saturation, hypercarbia, arrhythmia, laryngospasm and bron-chospasm were observed as complications of anesthesia.Conclusions: Foreign body aspiration is an emergency that requires early diagnosis and urgent interven-tion. It is important to be aware of the complications that may occur during anesthesia and momentous to be intervened by an experienced team.