Evaluation of clinical, radiologic, and laboratory prebronchoscopy findings in children with suspected foreign body aspiration.

Background: Foreign body aspiration (FBA) in infants and young children is a common and potentially life-threatening event. Although studies have extensively described the signs and symptoms of suspected FBA (sFBA), only few systematically compared their value for predicting bronchoscopy results.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe the clinical and radiologic signs and symptoms of sFBA and to identify predictors of bronchoscopically proven FBA (pFBA).