Removal of an unusual bronchial foreign body: rigid or flexible bronchoscopy?

Foreign body inhalation is an emergency in pediatric medicine, particularly in children before the age of 3 years. Whereas clinical assessment and chest X-ray usually guide the diagnosis, rigid bronchoscopy still remains the gold standard in terms of management of foreign body inhalation. However, flexible fibroscopy can also be quite useful in certain situations. This is illustrated by the following case of a young girl with foreign body inhalation in which flexible fibroscopy was the only way of removing the foreign object.