clinical features
Last reviewed 12/2022
A large foreign body like a small coin or marble will lodge in the trachea and cause a cough, stridor, cyanosis, and the patient will be very, very distressed.
Small foreign bodies like peanuts lodge in the right main bronchus, where they result in wheeze, cough, and unilateral breath sounds in the unaffected side. If left for any length of time there may be hyperinflation of the unaffected side.
Foreign bodies which are smaller still may present quite late, for example with chronic lung diseases like bronchiectasis, perhaps many years after the original inhalation.