_Laryngeal Foreign Body_.--One or more of the following laryngeal
symptoms may be present: Hoarseness, croupy cough, aphonia,
odynphagia, hemoptysis, wheezing, dyspnea, cyanosis, apnea, subjective
sensation of foreign body. Croupiness in foreign body cases, as in
diphtheria, usually means subglottic swelling. Obstructive foreign
body may be quickly fatal by laryngeal impaction on aspiration, or on
abortive bechic expulsion. Lodgement of a non-obstructive foreign body
may be followed by a symptomless interval. Direct laryngoscopy for
diagnosis is indicated in every child having laryngeal diphtheria
without faucial membrane. (No anesthetic, general or local is needed.)
In the presence of laryngeal symptoms, think of the following:
1. A foreign body in the larynx.
2. A foreign body loose or fixed in the trachea.
3. Digital efforts at removal.
4. Instrumentation.
5. Overflow of food into the larynx from esophageal obstruction due
to the foreign body.
6. Esophagotracheal fistula from ulceration set up by a foreign body
in the esophagus, followed by the leakage of food into the
air-passages.
7. Laryngeal symptoms may persist from the trauma of a foreign body
that has passed on into the deeper air or food passages or that has
been coughed or spat out.
8. Laryngeal symptoms (hoarseness, croupiness, etcetera) may be due
to digital or instrumental efforts at the removal of a foreign body
that never was present.
9. Laryngeal symptoms may be due to acute or chronic laryngitis,
diphtheria, pertussis, infective laryngotracheitis, and many other
diseases.
10. Deductive decisions are dangerous.
11. If the roentgenray is negative, laryngoscopy (direct in
children, indirect in adults) without anesthesia, general or local, is
the only way to make a laryngeal diagnosis.
12. Before doing a diagnostic laryngoscopy, preparation should be
made for taking a swab-specimen and for bronchoscopy and
esophagoscopy.
_Tracheal Foreign Body_.--(1) "Audible slap," (2) "palpatory thud,"
and (3) "asthmatoid wheeze" are pathognomonic. The "tracheal flutter"
has been observed by McCrae in a case of watermelon seed. Cough,
hoarseness, dyspnea, and cyanosis are often present. Diagnosis is by
roentgenray, auscultation, palpation, and bronchoscopy. Listen long
for "audible slap," best heard at open mouth during cough. The
"asthmatoid wheeze" is heard with the ear or stethoscope bell (McCrae)
at the patient's open mouth. History of initial choking, gagging, and
wheezing is important if elicited, but is valueless negatively.
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