Aim: To provide a better understanding of the management of foreign body ingestion.Background: This case report is a testament to the wonder that is the human body, where a sharp metal wire pierced through the esophageal wall and got lodged in the thyroid gland, with the esophagus completely healed following the trauma.Thus, it proved to be a challenging case in terms of diagnosis and management for the team of otolaryngologists.Case description: A 60-year-old female patient reported to the ENT outpatient department with presenting complaints of foreign body sensation in the throat since the last 15 days.Videolaryngoscopy of the patient showed a normal glottis with bilateral normal vocal cords and mobility.The patient was taken for cricopharyngoscopy and esophagoscopy with the aim of visualizing the foreign body and its removal under general anesthesia, which was normal.Computed tomography (CT) scan of the neck showed the foreign body, which was then removed from behind the right superior thyroid pole under C-arm guidance.Conclusion: This case proves that both clinical correlation and radiological investigation go hand in hand in the management of foreign body ingestion, and one is incomplete without the other.Clinical significance: The confounding nature of the case is what makes it novel.The unusual migration of the foreign body, along with the atypical symptoms, proved to be a challenge for the treating surgeons.
Roy et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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