Diagnosis of peanut inhalation by MRI.

A peanut is a commonly inhaled foreign body during childhood. Some cases are difficult to diagnose especially in cases without a clear history of inhalation. We describe a 16-month-old boy presenting with stridor and fever. The chest x-ray suggested inhalation of a foreign body but there was no history of this. A high spot on a T1-weighted chest MRI was due to a peanut which was seen to have moved from the right main bronchus to the left inferior bronchus, between the two MRI studies. MRI can provide information on position and size of the peanut, the conditions of the surrounding tissues and may be also useful in treatment. We consider MRI to be a valuable new method for the diagnosis of peanut inhalation.