Open AccessCase report of recurring pneumonia due to unusual foreign body aspiration in the airway
Author(s) -
Luis Alejandro Rodríguez Hidalgo,
Luis Alberto ConcepciónUrteaga,
Julio Hilario-Vargas,
Jorge Luis Cornejo-Portella,
Diana Cecilia Ruiz-Caballero,
Deysi Leslie Rojas-Vergara
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
medwave
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.178
H-Index - 7
ISSN - 0717-6384
DOI - 10.5867/medwave.2021.02.8136
Subject(s) - medicine , foreign body aspiration , foreign body , bronchoscopy , accidental , granulation tissue , bronchiectasis , airway , foreign bodies , surgery , right main bronchus , bronchus , radiology , lung , respiratory disease , physics , wound healing , acoustics
Foreign body aspiration is a rare but life-threatening event. Most accidental aspiration events occur in children. In adults, it can represent up to 25% of cases. Bronchoscopy remains the gold standard for diagnosing and treating foreign body aspiration from the lower respiratory tract. A 63-year-old female smoker with a history of chronic alcoholism and exposure to pyrotechnic smoke presented a productive cough, with whitish expectoration, dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain on the right side. On chest X-ray, she presented opacity in 2/3 of the right hemithorax. Computed axial tomography revealed consolidation with an air bronchogram on the right hemithorax, cylindrical bronchiectasis, ground glass pattern and centrilobular nodules. Bronchoscopic examination revealed a foreign body covered with granulation tissue in the right segmental bronchus (B6). The granulation tissue was integrated into the foreign body. In a second attempt, the foreign body could be removed, which was of bone consistency, seemingly a bird bone, confirmed by pathological anatomy results. After further questioning, the patient reported that two years before, she had choked when eating chicken. She had a cough and an episode of hemoptysis, but she chose not to ask for medical advice.