Ingested foreign bodies: removal by magnet.

Metallic foreign bodies ingested by eight patients (seven children) were removed from the upper gastrointestinal tract by means of a magnet inserted into the end of an orogastric tube. No patient required hospitalization, anesthesia, surgery, or subsequent radiography, and all patients remained asymptomatic. In no case did the foreign body uncouple from the orogastric tube-magnet arrangement during retrieval. The procedure is an alternative to endoscopic or surgical removal in some cases of metallic foreign body ingestion.