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The majority of esophageal Foreign body ingestions occur in the pediatric population. In adults, true foreign object ingestion occurs more commonly among those with psychiatric disorders, mental impairment. The management of esophageal foreign bodies is influenced by the age, clinical condition of ingested material, anatomic location and technical abilities of the endoscopist. Recently the therapeutic endoscopy is becoming wider and more rational in application. We evaluated the role of endoscopy for removal of esophageal foreign bodies during the period of 4 years from January 2000 to December 2003 at the Department of Otolaryngology and Gastroenterology, Seonam University Hospital. The results were as follow, 1) The age ranged from 21 to 74 years old (mean 50.5), most frequent age group was between 61-70 years old and male to female ratio was 1:1.4. 2) Fish bone was the most frequent foreign body in the esophagus ($47.1\%$), food material ($23.5\%$) and meats ($17.6\%$) were next frequent foreign bodies. The most frequent site of lodgement was the first ($78.4\%$), second ($17.6\%$) and third narrowing ($3.9\%$) in order. 3) The most common symptom was foreign body sensation (28.6%). the next common symptoms were chest discomfort($23.8\%$) and dysphagia($19\%$). 4) In duration of lodgement, 49cases ($96.1\%$) were lodged for less than one day. 5) The foreign bodies of esophagus were removed successfully by flexible endoscope with basket, snare, forceps, overtube and endoscopic variceal ligation cap. There were only 3 cases of minimal complications, esophageal mucosal tearing. In conclusion, endoscopic esophageal foreign body removal is useful and safe with minimal or no complications.
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