POTD: Foreign Body of the Nose

Foreign body of the Nose

•        Most common age range: 2-5 yo

•        Most common FB: beads, beans, peanuts, toy parts

•        Beware of: button batteries and two magnets, as always.

•        Can lead to septal perforation/necrosis of tissue.

•        Be suspicious of nasal FB when you see unilateral discharge, often malodorous

•        Complications: infection, aspiration, epistaxis

To remove:

•        Topical lidocaine or afrin?

• Pro: improve tolerance of/cooperation with the procedure

• Con: risks displacement of the FB

How to remove

1) Mechanical extraction: You need a cooperative child and good visualization.

2) Suction: must exercise extreme caution not to push further back and aspirated into the trachea

3) Positive Pressure: Parent’s kiss, bag mask, continuous pressure

• Start by asking the child to blow their nose, occluding the unaffected nostril as they do this. Sometimes, this alone may expel the foreign body.

• Parent’s Kiss: One of my preferred methods. Has a 50 % success rate.

Kissing parent: The technique is performed by a parent by placing their mouth over the child’s (giving a ‘big kiss’), while they occlude the unaffected nostril. The parent then exhales into the child’s mouth, generating positive pressure, similar to that of nose blowing. See picture below for demonstration.

Nothing working? You may need an ENT consult because the FB is so posterior that above methods are futile.

Now that it’s removed:

·       Don’t forget to inspect for trauma or retained FB

References:

•        PEM playbook foreign bodies: excellent peds podcast by Dr. T Horeczko - ‎2015

•        Wiki EM: Nose foreign body

Look at this retro parent’s kiss!

POTD: Foreign bodies, Ears!

This is a two part series for POTD. Foreign bodies: Ears and Nose! Today, Ears!

Quick Anatomy review to help locate that FB:

•        Anatomy

–       medial 2/3 is fixed in temporal bone –where many FBs are lodged and/or where trauma

•        Ask yourself: is it graspable or non-graspable?

–       Graspable: 64% success rate, 14% complication rate

–       Non-graspable: 45% success rate, 70% complication rate

•        What instrument/method should I use for what?

–       Alligator forceps: think something graspable like paper, foam

–       Suction tip: think something non graspable like a round object such as a bead

–       Irrigation: think something non graspable like a bead (note: do not irrigate organic material as will swell or break apart)

–       Glue: something non graspable like a bead or organic material that might swell or break if irrigated

Pearls on insect FB:

·       Kill it first. They will fight.

-        What to use? Lidocaine jelly, viscous lidocaine (2%), lidocaine solution, isopropyl alcohol, or mineral oil.

-        After they are dead, you can remove or can send to ENT for removal (most patients will want it out, can you blame them?)

o    An ENT friend of mine says to keep the insect in the ear and let them remove because we tend to cause trauma. Something to keep in mind.

What if I caused or the FB (like that insect fighting for their life) caused local trauma?

•        TM rupture?

–       Keep dry

•        When to use otic abx drops

–       Any trauma or dirty FB injury (think: that insect crawling around) or canal lacerations/abrasions.

–       What to give? Ofloxacin drops or the very expensive ciprodex.

•        ENT f/u

Pitfalls

•        Inspect after removal

–       Something else in there? Abrasions/trauma and need prophylactic antibiotic ear drops

•        If at first you don’t succeed, try again. But consider changing the technique of removal. Remember the law of diminishing returns.

References:

Pem playbook: excellent peds podcast by Dr.  T Horeczko - ‎2015

Wiki EM: Ear foreign body

POTD: Straight leg test. A leg up on clinical testing!

A little background:

Lumbar disc herniation is the most common cause of lumbar radiculopathy, or sciatica, a shooting or burning pain from the low back radiating down the posterior leg distal to the knee.

Two tests used to evaluate these symptoms are

The straight leg raise.

·       The straight leg raise test is highly sensitive but not very specific for disc herniation.

·       This is performed by lifting the leg affected by the radiating pain.

·       The patient lies supine with one leg either straight or flexed at the knee with the sole of the foot flat on the stretcher.

·       The examiner then raises the affected leg up, extended, to 30 to 70 degrees.

·       Reproduction of low back pain that radiates down the posterior affected leg at least past the knee is considered a positive result. Not just pain to the lower back, which is a common misconception.

·       The SLR test can also be performed with the patient in a sitting position, by stretching the sciatic nerve by extending the knee; the test is positive if pain radiates to below the knee.

The crossed straight leg raise.

·       It is highly specific (90%) for disc herniation

·       You perform the same test as the straight leg but on the unaffected leg.

·       A positive test: reproducing both the back pain + the radiation down the affected leg.

Sources: Peer IX, Tintinelli’s, Dr. Sergey Motov, Uptodate