Foreign Body Aspiration

 

By Tracey Straker MD MS MPH CBA FASA

Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, USA

 

This is an upright PA chest X-ray of an individual with a foreign object in the lung

 

This is an upright lateral chest X-ray of the same individual

 

 

Questions

  1. What lung field, left or right, is the object in?
     

    Answer: ...Answers available for SHANA members

  2. What lung lobe is the object located in? Why did the object most likely end up in this lobe?
     

    Answer: ...Answers available for SHANA members

  3. What material is this object? How do objects of this material appear on X-ray? On CT Scan? On Ultrasound?
     

    Answer: ...Answers available for SHANA members

  4. How would you anesthetize the individual to retrieve the object?
     

    Answer: ...Answers available for SHANA members

 

  This is a picture of the object retrieved from the bronchus in the case discussed. It is a drill bit aspirated by the patient during a routine dental procedure.

 

 

 

 

References

  1. Carl E. Fabian, MD, FACR https://appliedradiology.com/articles/knowing-right-from-left-on-x-rays-a-way-to-minimize-errors-of-laterality
     
  2. Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. https://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=how+does+metal+appear+on+xrays&d=4956074537845506&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=YkuWf7UAFMbNw2OXyIUupkgcc83QFrqQ
     
  3. https://www.x-rayscreener.co.uk/?xray=x-ray-imaging
     
  4. DJ Bell et al. CT Artifacts https://radiopedia.org/articles/ct-artifacts?lang=us
     
  5. Patel A, Nouraei SA. Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE): a physiological method of increasing apnoea time in patients with difficult airways. Anaesthesia. 2015;70(3):323–329. doi:10.1111/anae.12923
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4674986/