Sudden near-fatal tracheal aspiration of an undiagnosed nasal foreign body in a small child

Foreign body aspiration is a commonly encountered emergency in children. Foreign body can lodge in any site from supra-glottis to the terminal bronchioles. Symptoms might range from none to respiratory compromise, cardiac arrest and even death depending on location and size. We report successful management of a child who aspirated a nasal foreign body during physical examination in an outpatient department causing complete airway obstruction with special mention about different management options available for managing near total respiratory arrest from an aspirated foreign body in the ED.