Blind Esophageal Coin Removal Using a Foley Catheter

THE INGESTION of foreign bodies by children is not an uncommon presenting complaint. Diagnosis is usually simple, but removal presents problems. "Esophagoscopy is a dangerous procedure and not to be undertaken lightly,"¹ yet blind methods of removing foreign bodies are extremely dangerous and widely decried.²

We have recently had success with an independently conceived, simple method confirming a similar approach by Bigler.³

Report of a Case  A 2-year-old child was brought to the F. E. Warren Air Force Base emergency room shortly after having swallowed a penny. The child was in no distress and the presence of the coin was confirmed by posteroanterior and lateral roentgenograms (Fig 1 and 2), showing the coin at the level of the first and second thoracic vertebrae.The child had eaten approximately one hour before ingesting the coin. A postingestion bread feeding failed to move the coin into the stomach, as