Chronic retained esophageal foreign body masquerading as a mediastinal mass

Abstract

Foreign body ingestion is a common problem in children, coin being the usual offender in most of the cases. In the majority of the times, they pass through the esophagus without any complication. It is rare to have complications such as perioesphagitis, peri esophageal abscess, vascular fistula or carotid rupture and still rare to have the condition silent for 20 long years and presenting with acute symptoms. We report a case of retained esophageal foreign body presenting as recent onset dysphagia and mediastinal widening.

Keywords

• Aluminum
• foreign body
• mediastinal mass
• esophagus