Foreign bodies of the gastrointestinal tract.

Gastrointestinal foreign bodies are a common occurrence in most emergency room settings and should be dealt with in an organized manner to bring about their retrieval expeditiously. Approximately 1500 to 1600 persons in the United States die from ingestion or placement of foreign bodies every year. This study of foreign bodies of the gastrointestinal tract reports an 8-year span in which 60 cases were compiled from a 540-bed private, inner city hospital. The average hospital stay was 3.2 days. Foreign bodies were retained in the esophagus in 68.3 per cent of patients, in the stomach in 11.6 per cent, and in the colon or rectum in 13.3 per cent. In 3.3 per cent the object passed spontaneously, and in 3.3 per cent it resulted in perforation.