All issues > Volume 50(8); 2007

Case Report

Korean J Pediatr. 2007;50(8):781-784. Published online August 15, 2007.

Bronchial foreign body aspiration diagnosed with MDCT

Hye Kyung HK Cho¹, Ky Young KY Cho¹, Sung Yoon SY Cho¹, Sejung SJ Sohn¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence Sejung SJ Sohn ,Email: sohn@ewha.ac.kr

Abstract

Foreign body aspiration (FBA) is a common accident in young children. Undiagnosed and retained foreign bodies may result in severe early and late complications such as asphyxia, pneumonia, atelectasis and bronchiectasis. Moreover, because it can mimic bronchiolitis, croup or asthma, an accurate history and a high index of suspicion are of paramount importance for early diagnosis. With our experience on bronchial FBA initially misdiagnosed as acute bronchiolitis, we emphasize that a minute radiological finding should not be neglected and a repeat chest radiograph may be helpful when the initial study shows normal findings. Multidetector computed tomography is a very useful noninvasive diagnostic modality for FBA.

Keywords :Foreign body aspiration, Bronchus, Children