Generally, the dancing foreign body especially dry vegetal in the trachea is very dangerous because it may cause asphyxia by occlusion of the glottic chink or bronchial orifices. Therefore, bronchoscopic removal, if possible, or tracheotomy should be done instantly. A five-year-old girl was brought to the Out Paitent Department with complaints of severe difficulty in breathing and cough which developed suddenly during play. The
girl appeared to be struggling with air hunger. Serious dyspnea, mainly expiratory, with asthmoid wheeze was the most outstanding symptom, and both ""audible slap"" and ""palpatory thud"" were also found. Under suspicion of foreign body in the trachea, direct laryngoscopy was performed and confirmed that a large foreign body is dancing in the trachea. Immediate bronchoscopic removal of the foregien body was attempted but failed. Without delay emergency tracheotomy was done, and removed a large slightly swollen French bean(kidney bean) from the subglottic region. Post-operatively, slight subcutaneous emphysema in the neck and bilateral incomplete pneumothorax were found (exact cause of this occurrence could not be determined, it might be due to over straining or surgical trauma), however the clinical course was smooth. By two weeks, both lungs were completely reexpanded.
|