Introduction: Fish bone Foreign Body (FFB) accidental ingestion is a most common presenting complaint for patients attending the emergency department. It is more frequently lodged within the oropharynx and the oesophagus. However, fish bone impacting in the respiratory system is extremely rare; accounting for 14% of reported cases, with approximately few cases reported in the literature involved the lower airway.
Patient concern: A 27- year-old man presented clinically as a case of chest infection with a 5-day history of palpitation, right pleuritic chest pain and shortness of breath.
Diagnosis: We report a case of atypical presentation of FFB ingestion. Although patients with foreign bodies’ ingestion sometimes presented with cough, there are a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms, especially those with lower airway FFB; where imaging findings are not usually spotted in the emergency department to point to the diagnosis.
Intervention: Swab for COVID-19 was negative and the initial chest X-ray showed poor inspiratory effort and no air space opacity. Although CT pulmonary angiography for pulmonary embolism was negative, an incidental finding suggestive of foreign body was reported in the right lower lung region.
Outcomes: The foreign body was distal within the lung parenchyma; therefore, there was no need for urgent surgical intervention and there should be a 1-month outpatient clinic follow-up and patient was discharged on antibiotic.
Conclusion: Although fish bone ingestion is a common food related foreign body ingestion, cases can often present a diagnostic dilemma and can be easily misdiagnosed or mistaken for other diagnoses. Therefore, vigilant and thorough history taking, and the consideration of a FFB in the differential diagnosis is essential.
Keywords:
Published on: Apr 23, 2021 Pages: 34-37
Full Text PDF
Full Text HTML
DOI: 10.17352/2455-5282.000123
CrossMark
Publons
Harvard Library HOLLIS
Search IT
Semantic Scholar
Get Citation
Base Search
Scilit
OAI-PMH
ResearchGate
Academic Microsoft
GrowKudos
Universite de Paris
UW Libraries
SJSU King Library
SJSU King Library
NUS Library
McGill
DET KGL BIBLiOTEK
JCU Discovery
Universidad De Lima
WorldCat
VU on WorldCat
PTZ: We're glad you're here. Please click "create a new query" if you are a new visitor to our website and need further information from us.
If you are already a member of our network and need to keep track of any developments regarding a question you have already submitted, click "take me to my Query."