Monthly Archives: December 2017

Imaging Foreign Bodies – Also, which fish have radio-opaque bones?

The title says it all. I referenced this article on shift tonight for probably the third time and had to post it here so that I could keep track of it — this is a review of radiographic imaging and approaches to workup/management of various foreign bodies in both pediatrics and adults. It’s an excellent overview — it’s not the answer to a very specific question I saw another group publish in the 90s by Ell and Sprig, that taught us that “only the bones from cod, haddock, cole fish, gurnard, lemon sole, monk fish, grey mullet and red snapper are well seen by soft tissue radiographic techniques” — but it is still very useful in keeping these things straight. It has helpful images, algorithmic approaches to various types of suspected ingestions, and lots of references for more detailed information and studies. I would love it if Annals of EM would publish more stuff like this, even if it comes from outside our direct field.

References

Tseng HJ1, Hanna TN2, Shuaib W2, Aized M3, Khosa F2, Linnau KF4. Imaging Foreign Bodies: Ingested, Aspirated, and Inserted. Ann Emerg Med. 2015 Dec;66(6):570-582. PMID: 26320521. [PubMed] [Read by QxMD]
Ell SR1, Sprigg A. The radio-opacity of fishbones–species variation. Clin Radiol. 1991 Aug;44(2):104-7. PMID: 1884575. [PubMed] [Read by QxMD]