Complications as a Result of the Heimlich Maneuver

The Heimlich maneuver is a well-described emergency procedure for management of foreign body airway obstructions. Although rare, complications of the Heimlich maneuver do exist. The purpose of this report is to review the known complications of this procedure. All reported complications published in English on Medline and PubMed were reviewed. Additionally, we present a rare case of acute pancreatitis with associated pseudocyst formation after the administration of the Heimlich maneuver on a healthy 3-year-old boy. Although life saving, the Heimlich maneuver may be associated with significant complications; thus, symptomatic patients after this maneuver should be thoroughly evaluated with appropriate laboratory and radiographic studies.