Swallowed Object
Key points
- Young children and, sometimes, older children and adults may swallow toys, coins, safety pins, buttons, bones, wood, glass, batteries or other foreign objects.
- Objects also can become trapped in the intestine, or can tear the intestinal walls, causing vomiting, abdominal pain, abnormal bowel sounds and dark stools that contain blood.
- After your doctor examines your child and asks about his or her recent medical history, the doctor may order a chest X-ray to help show where the object is.
- Most objects that do not cause symptoms will pass through the digestive tract in one or two days without causing harm.
What Is It?
Young children and, sometimes, older children and adults may swallow toys, coins, safety pins, buttons, bones, wood, glass, batteries or other foreign objects. These objects often pass all the way through the digestive tract in 24 to 48 hours and cause no harm. But problems may arise when objects are stuck for a long time, are sharp, or contain corrosive materials. Complications can include tears in the esophagus (the tube that connects the mouth and stomach), movement of the object into the tissue of the esophagus, and infection. Three areas of the esophagus are the most likely places for objects to lodge:
- At the level of the collarbones (clavicles) — the most common place
- At the center of the chest
- Just before the esophagus meets the stomach, near the bottom of the rib cage
Objects also may get stuck in any part of the esophagus that has been injured previously.
Symptoms
If the object gets caught in the esophagus, it can cause:
- Drooling
- Inability to swallow or painful swallowing
- Vomiting
- Chest pain or neck pain
- Wheezing, difficulty breathing or a type of noisy breathing called stridor, which is a loud sound heard only when breathing in
- Coughing
Objects also can become trapped in the intestine, or can tear the intestinal walls, causing vomiting, abdominal pain, abnormal bowel sounds and dark stools that contain blood.
Diagnosis
After your doctor examines your child and asks about his or her recent medical history, the doctor may order a chest X-ray to help show where the object is. If the X-ray does not show the object, but the symptoms and circumstances still suggest that an object is stuck in the esophagus, the child may need a special X-ray, called a barium swallow. The child drinks a mixture of water and barium, and the barium coats the walls of the esophagus as well as any objects stuck in it. Since barium can be seen easily on an X-ray, a barium swallow often is used to help find transparent or translucent swallowed objects that otherwise would not be visible.
Expected Duration
Most objects that do not cause symptoms will pass through the digestive tract in one or two days without causing harm.
Prevention
Keep all small objects such as coins, pins, small toy pieces and batteries away from young children, especially those younger than age 3.
Written and revised by
David Cohen, M.D.
Our doctors write and review articles for accuracy and keep them up to date.
health.am provides general information, not medical advice. Always consult a qualified health professional about your own health.