Spontaneously Expectorated Foreign Body

1. ‫الرحيم‬ ‫الرحمن‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫بسم‬
A Spontaneously
Expectorated Bronchial
Foreign Body
Prof. Abdulsalam Y Taha
College of Medicine
University of Sulaimani
2022
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2. The Case
 A 17-years old male patient was admitted to
Sulaymaniyah Teaching Hospital,
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq on 23rd of December 2009
with chocking and bouts of cough following
inhalation of a button few hours prior to
admission. He was stable apart from bouts of
cough. Chest radiograph (PA and lateral
views) located the foreign body (FB) at right
main stem bronchus (RMB). He was admitted
and prepared for rigid bronchoscopy next
morning. Suddenly, the FB was expectorated
during cough. The patient was reassured and
discharged home.
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6. Post-FB Expectoration
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7. Comment
 This patient was lucky as he was
saved from rigid bronchoscopy and
general anesthesia (GA) to remove
the FB.
 Spontaneous expectoration of
bronchial FBs is uncommon. It could
be explained by the vigorous cough in
healthy young people which may be
sufficient to move some loosely
located FBs in the bronchial tree.
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