Esophageal foreign bodies, particularly when they are pointed and embedded against the plane of removal, present almost unsurmountable difficulties to the operator. Even the greatest skill in these cases results in some degree of esophageal laceration, which is usually a superimposed extension of the preexistent perforation.
It is not our purpose to report a great number of cases over a period of years with tabulations of percentages, although we do not deny that statistics serve their purpose. It must be remembered that often these may be applicable for the reporter, but with another geographic site and certain changes in personalities, not only of the surgeons but also of the patients, statistical compilation unrecognizably alters the moral. The following brief reports typify this natural consequence: In China,1 foreign bodies are more frequently found in the esophagus than in the respiratory tract. An article from Los Angeles2 records as a