Button battery ingestion: A serious pitfall of diagnosis of ingested foreign bodies in children from resource-limited settings – A case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Button battery ingestion and impaction in the oesophagus can result in severe morbidity and even fatality if not diagnosed and managed urgently. Delayed or missed diagnosis due to the sometimes-vague symptomatology and limited investigations in resource-limited settings further increases the complications rate. CASE PRESENTATION: Case 1: A 2 years old male child presented with a nine months history of recurrent respiratory tract infections not responding well to medical treatment. A radio-opaque round foreign body (FB) was incidentally seen in the chest. Rigid esophagoscopy and removal were done, but the child had developed a trachea oesophagal fistula. The fistula was managed conservatively by retaining a nasogastric tube until spontaneous fistula closure happened. Case 2: A 2 years old female child presented with a one-year history of poor feeding, vomiting, difficulty in breathing and persistent wet cough, and fever. He underwent tonsillectomy with no improvement. A radio-opaque round FB was incidentally seen in the oesophagus near the carina by a chest x-ray. A thoracotomy had to be done after two failed removal attempts by rigid esophagoscopy. CLINICAL DISCUSSION: The similarity in the symptomatology of common aerodigestive conditions with FB ingestion compounded with low chances of witnessing the ingestion creates a possible pitfall for clinicians when resulting in a missed or a delayed diagnosis, further raising the complications rate of FB impaction in the oesophagus, such as tracheoesophageal fistula formation or the need for a massive surgery such as thoracotomy to remove the button battery. CONCLUSION: Complications of foreign body ingestion in the paediatric population can have serious complications. High morbidity and mortality may be attributed to delayed diagnosis and intervention.