Foreign Body Ingestion: Causes

Pathogenesis (development of disease)

Foreign body ingestion primarily affects young children. They put objects in their mouths out of curiosity or accidentally during play and swallow them unintentionally.

Etiology (causes)

Biographic causes

  • Advanced age

Disease-related causes (especially in adults).

  • For a foreign body impaction
    • Mental retardation
    • Malignancies (about 10%)
    • Motility disorders of the esophagus.
      • Achalasia – disease in which the lower esophageal sphincter (esophageal sphincter; entrance to the stomach) does not open properly and the motility (mobility) of the muscles of the esophagus is also impaired (about 2%)
      • Postoperative
    • Peptic or cauterization-related strictures (narrowing) in the esophagus (food pipe) (approximately 37%).
    • Postoperative anastomotic stenoses (narrowing of a connecting duct between two anatomic structures).
    • Psychiatric diseases
    • Esophagotracheal fistulas – fistula (unnatural connection) between the esophagus (food pipe) and trachea (windpipe).
    • Esophageal rings (about 6%).
  • For getting a bolus of food (swallowable morsel) stuck in the esophagus (food pipe).
    • Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) – chronic allergy-like inflammation of the esophagus that causes difficulty swallowing solid food (about 33%)