What to do with swallowed objects?
It happens more often than you think: Swallowed, not paying attention and you've already swallowed the chewing gum, the peanut or even dangerous objects like cheese pieker. Especially children often put objects in their mouth that can be dangerous if swallowed. But what can I do if it happens?
Ingestion of objects by no means only happens to children. Even adults, especially the elderly, may inadvertently swallow things. After all, there are 13 cases per 100,000 people each year, estimate physicians. "Often parts of the food or inappropriate ingredients of the food are swallowed, for example, too big a piece of steak from the grill or herringbone," says Alexander of the Ulm University Hospital. "But we also have patients who swallow a piece of broken glass or with cheese and grape together the pointed plastic pieker."
What was swallowed?
Whether a child or an adult: the most important thing is not to panic.
First, I should find out what the victim has swallowed. Is it a marble, a coin or a similar rather small, rounded object? Then there is usually no acute cause for concern. Because objects up to about two centimeters in diameter can easily pass through the esophagus and intestine even in small children. They are excreted by themselves again and then find themselves in the toilet or the diaper again.
What immediate measures are there?
If the object is neither pointed nor sharp, then sometimes I can help the affected person with a simple measure. If a child is affected, I put it over my knees on my stomach so that my head and arms hang down. With the palm of my hand, I strike a few times vigorously on the back between the shoulder blades. If the object is still relatively high up in the neck, that can be enough to get it out.
In an adult, it can help if I embrace his chest below the ribs with his arms from behind. Then I push hard several times. This sudden compression can literally catapult stuck objects.
In no case should I take an emetic or administer it to the person affected. Because depending on what kind of foreign body it is, the first thing that can hurt the sensitive innards.
When should I call the ambulance?
However, the situation is more serious if the child or the affected adult either experiences shortness of breath or pain, nausea or abnormally high levels of salivation. This may be a sign that the object is stuck either in the trachea or in the larynx, or in the esophagus. In these cases, I should call the emergency doctor immediately.
The same applies if a sharp or pointed object or a battery was swallowed. Because a cheese pieker, a razor blade or similar can pierce the wall of the esophagus, stomach or intestines and cause internal injuries. It is important to act quickly here? and only the doctor can.
The situation is similar for a swallowed battery or a magnet: "If someone swallows a button battery, the doctor must act immediately, because by electrical or chemical reactions, the gastric or intestinal mucous membranes can be damaged," says Meining. "Even magnets must be removed immediately, because they can glue together with their attraction, for example, two intestinal loops and hurt."
What does the doctor need to know?
For the doctor it is important to know what exactly was swallowed. It is best, therefore, if I bring an identical object, so for example still a cheese pieker, to the doctor. This facilitates the diagnosis and therapy. Also the exact time is important. Because the longer the object is already in the body, the further it could have already wandered in the gastrointestinal tract. The doctor can therefore estimate better at a precise time, where to look for the object.
What does the doctor?
After a questioning of the person affected or with a small child of the relatives, the physician will first examine the mouth and the throat. If the swallowed object is still located in the throat or above the larynx, it can already locate it in this examination and possibly pull it out carefully with tweezers.
If the doctor does not find the object during this examination, he will usually arrange an X-ray examination. It tells him exactly where the swallowed object is, whether he is stuck and possibly has already caused damage. And of course, the X-ray image also shows exactly what it is all about.
How is the item removed?
In most cases, the swallowed objects can be removed endoscopically. The doctor carefully introduces a probe through the mouth and throat under anesthesia. This carries at its front end on the one hand a camera, on the other hand but small grappling hooks. With these he can grab the object and pull it out slowly.For sharp or pointed objects, the physician uses special probes that carry slings or cups at the front end. These protect the surrounding tissue from being pulled out when injured.
Only in rare cases, an item must be removed by surgery. This is usually the case when he has already caused injuries or sits so deep in the small intestine that the doctor no longer get by probe. But the surgery is usually minimally invasive. Using small construction sections, the doctors introduce probes, with which they then carefully open the intestine at the site and remove the foreign body.
