Clinical Spectrum and Emergency Endoscopic Management of Foreign Body Oesophagus: An Eight-Case Series

Background: Oesophageal foreign body impaction is a frequent emergency presentation requiring prompt recognition, airway assessment, object localisation, and timely removal. Sharp animal bones and paediatric coin ingestion represent clinically important patterns because delayed diagnosis can lead to mucosal injury, perforation, mediastinitis, fistula formation, retropharyngeal abscess, and mortality in high-risk objects. The objective is to describe the clinical presentation, diagnostic evaluation, and emergency management pattern in an eight-patient case series of suspected or confirmed foreign body oesophagus or hypopharyngeal impaction. Case presentation: Eight patients aged 4 to 50 years presented with foreign body sensation, throat pain, odynophagia, or witnessed ingestion. Six patients were female and two were male. Chicken bone ingestion or impaction was documented in three patients and coin ingestion in two children. Two adult female patients had confirmed chicken-bone impaction near the hypopharyngeal/pharyngo-oesophageal region and underwent emergency endoscopic removal under general anaesthesia. In Case 1, HRCT neck with 3D reconstruction localised a linear foreign body at C4-C5; direct laryngoscopy enabled removal in toto and subsequent oesophagoscopy excluded an additional object. In Case 2, videolaryngoscopy showed saliva pooling, CT localised the object at the pharyngo-oesophageal junction, and rigid oesophagoscopy removed a chicken bone pierced into oesophageal mucosa. Immediate post-extubation recovery was uneventful in both operative cases. Conclusion: Foreign body oesophagus requires risk-based triage. Sharp bones, symptomatic oesophageal coins, complete obstruction, button batteries, magnets, and suspected perforation need urgent specialist evaluation. This series highlights the value of videolaryngoscopy, CT localisation for sharp radiolucent objects, and definitive removal by direct laryngoscopy or rigid oesophagoscopy when the foreign body is impacted near the cricopharyngeal/upper oesophageal region.

Keywords: foreign body oesophagus; chicken bone; coin ingestion; rigid oesophagoscopy; direct laryngoscopy; hypopharynx; case series.