Symptomatology depends on the size, shape, and material of the foreign body. In some cases, foreign body ingestion initially remains asymptomatic.
The following symptoms and complaints may indicate foreign body ingestion:
Main symptoms
- Gagging, recurrent (recurring) vomiting of undigested food.
- Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing).
- Foreign body sensation
- Strong salivation (salivation), possibly persistent
- Refusal of food
- Retrosternal (lying behind the breastbone) or abdominal (affecting the abdominal cavity) pain
- Peritonitic (strongly tense) abdominal wall.
- Painful restlessness
- If button cells are swallowed and get stuck in the esophagus (food pipe): first malaise, after a few hours vomiting, loss of appetite, fever, coughing
- Hematemesis (vomiting blood; coffee grounds vomiting).
- Melena (blood in the stool)
Associated symptoms
- With possible compression of the larynx (larynx) and/or trachea (windpipe): dyspnea (shortness of breath).
Swallowed foreign bodies preferentially get stuck in the following places due to anatomical conditions:
- Esophagus with its three strictures – in two-thirds of cases in front of the second stricture (in the upper third of the esophagus)
- Upper esophageal sphincter (esophageal mouth) – at the level of the larynx (larynx)
- Middle constriction – through the adjacent aortic arch.
- Lower esophageal sphincter – at the level of the diaphragm (diaphragm).
- Pylorus (“stomach gate”; annular smooth muscle located between the antrum of the stomach (antrum pyloricum) and the duodenum).
- Bauhin’s valve (synonym: ileocecal valve) (rare) – prevents reflux (backflow) of intestinal contents from the large intestine (rich in bacteria) to the small intestine (poor in bacteria)
According to the symptomatology, a distinction is made between:
- Acute: < 24 hours after the event
- Subacute: > 24 hours after the event
- Chronic: weeks, months after the event
