Author(s)

Olushola Abdulrahman Afolabi, Adeyi Adogwu Adoga, Emmanuel Musa, Alfred Nicholas Bemu, Garba Mainasara Mohammed, Aliyu Mohammed Kodiya, Aminu Bakari, Babagana Mohammed Ahmad

National Ear Care Center, Kaduna, Nigeria;.

Physicians under-report cases of child abuse or child maltreatment. We present a case of an impacted oesophageal foreign body in a physically abused child. S.H. is a 7-year-old male child who accidentally ingested metal clip while being assaulted by his paternal uncle whom he resides with. He presented with dysphagia, odynophagia and drooling of saliva and urgent x-ray soft tissue neck revealing the presence of the metallic foreign body in the prevertebral region. He had emergency oesophagoscopy with the removal of foreign body, did well and was discharged home 4^th day postoperatively after parental counselling. It remains the responsibility of paediatric healthcare providers to consider child maltreatment as a differential diagnosis of any unexplained injury or medical problems, including oesophageal foreign body impaction.

Child; Maltreatment; Impacted; Oesophageal Foreign Body; Assault

Afolabi, O. , Adoga, A. , Musa, E. , Bemu, A. , Mohammed, G. , Kodiya, A. , Bakari, A. and Ahmad, B. (2013) An impacted oesophageal foreign body in a physically abused child. Case Reports in Clinical Medicine, 2, 256-259. doi: 10.4236/crcm.2013.24070.