What are the symptoms of foreign body in the trachea?

If something enters the trachea, symptoms such as severe coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing will occur. Tracheal foreign bodies are divided into four stages: entry stage, quiet stage, irritation stage or inflammation stage, and finally the complication stage.

1. Foreign body entry period

Most patients experience sudden choking, violent coughing and choking while eating, and may also experience wheezing, hoarseness, cyanosis and difficulty breathing. If the foreign body is small, smooth, and movable, such as melon seeds or corn kernels, a slapping sound can be heard when the patient coughs, as if the foreign body hits the glottis upward, and a vibration can be felt when the hand is placed in front of the larynx and trachea. If the foreign body is large and blocks the trachea or is close to the bulge of the tracheal branch, the ventilation of the main bronchi on both sides may be seriously obstructed, resulting in severe breathing difficulties, even suffocation and death.

2. Quiet period:

If the foreign body is small and not very irritating, or if it enters the bronchus through the trachea, the symptoms of coughing and shortness of breath may be very mild or even disappear for a period of time. The asymptomatic period may be long or short, making it easy to overlook the diagnosis.

3. Irritation or inflammation stage:

Plant-based tracheal foreign bodies contain free acids, which have a significant irritating effect on the tracheal mucosa. Beans are foreign objects in the trachea. They swell after absorbing water, making it easy for airway obstruction to occur. The longer the foreign body stays in the airway, the more severe the reaction will be. It will initially be an irritating cough, followed by symptoms of persistent cough, atelectasis or emphysema due to increased secretions in the trachea and swelling of the tracheal mucosa.

4. Complication period:

Foreign bodies can get stuck in one bronchus and, over time, be wrapped by granulation tissue or fibrous tissue, causing bronchial obstruction and easily leading to secondary infection. Long-term tracheal foreign bodies have clinical manifestations similar to suppurative tracheitis, such as coughing up bloody sputum, atelectasis or emphysema, causing dyspnea and hypoxia.