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Foreign bodies in the esophagus offer many problems in diagnosis and in methods of extraction, nonopaque ones presenting especial difficulties. An impacted nonopaque foreign body in a mongolian idiot, inaccessible by peroral endoscopy, with a fatal result, makes this case worthy of report.
REPORT OF CASE
History.—A 12 year old mentally deficient boy was brought to the hospital with the following history: He was noted to be acting strangely a short while after supper. With his head bent forward, he was restless, drooling from the mouth and nose and having respiratory difficulty. Roentgenographic studies revealed the larynx to be displaced anteriorly, with no opaque foreign body in the esophagus. A foreign body was suspected, but no information was available as to its nature. The patient's diet consisted only of soft or macerated foods. Because of the mental deficiency, it was impossible to elicit subjective symptoms.Physical examination revealed an idiot