Denture plate foreign body of esophagus

Background  Impacted esophageal foreign bodies are encountered occasionally. It still remains the challenging task for endoscopiest to remove them and surgery may be the only final remedy. Methods  This report consists of five consecutive cases from January 2004 to December 2007, where denture plate foreign bodies were found impacted in cervico-thoracic junction of esophagus. Endoscopic attempts did not help them and all the patients needed cervical oesophagotomy. Two patients were males and three females with age ranged from sixty to eighty five years. The duration of ingestion was two to seven days with mean of 4.8±1.92 days. Result  Denture plates were removed successfully in all the cases without any early or late complication over the period of 2.163±1.212 years of follow up. Mortality and morbidity was 0%. Conclusion  Open surgical removal of impacted esophageal foreign body is still the gold standard in spite of advancement in endoscopic techniques.