Bronchoscopic foreign body extraction in a pulmonary medicine department: a retrospective review of egyptian experience.

Foreign body (FB) removal in our hospital was almost exclusively performed by surgeons through a rigid bronchoscope until the pulmonologists started getting involved in FB extraction. This study aimed to retrospectively review the results of 2 years of experience with 120 patients who presented or were referred to the Pulmonary Medicine Department, Ain Shams University Hospital in Cairo, Egypt, with clinical suspicion of FB aspiration during the period between December 2006 and December 2008. FBs were removed by either rigid and/or flexible bronchoscopy using either general or topical anesthesia.