Incidence and evolution of foreign body impaction in the upper gastrointestinal tract and its relationship with eosionophilic oesophagitis

Background: Foreign body impaction is a frequent indication of urgent endoscopy. One of the reasons for impaction is eosinophilic oesophagitis (EE). To analyze characteristics of oesophageal foreign body impactions and their relationship with eosinophilic oesophagitis. Methods: In this retrospective study, urgent endoscopies in a tertiary care centre were ana-lyzed. We included all urgent endoscopies due to bolus and foreign body impactions performed between September 1st 2018 and September 1st 2020. We reviewed clinical data of all patients who were diagnosed with EE and compared it to impactions that were due to other motives. The mean follow-up time was 18.7 months. Results: 693 urgent endoscopy procedures were performed. 239 (34%) of these were due to foreign body ingestion. Mean age of the patients was 63 years old and 135 (63%) were men. EE was diagnosed in 36 (17%) patients. The factors associated with EE were age, to be younger than 50 years (OR, 7.3; 95% CI, 1.1-48.4; p = 0.04), asthma/rhinitis/atopic dermatitis (OR, 8.9; 95% CI, 2.3-35.3; p = 0.002), findings in the endoscopy as trachealization (OR, 9.7; 95% CI, 1.3-70.9; p = 0.03) and psychotropic/calcium channel blocker drugs (OR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.009-0.9; p = 0.04). 15 (7%) patients died. In 6 of them death was impaction-related. None patients with EE died.

Automated summary

This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of patients with esophageal foreign body impactions and found that eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) was closely related to factors such as age, history of respiratory diseases, endoscopic findings, and medication use. The study also pointed out a low mortality rate among patients, and deaths were associated with impactions.