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Foreign body impaction of the hard palate: tabletop party confetti mimicking button batteries in two infants

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Abstract

We present the first two cases in the literature of tabletop party confetti mimicking button batteries in two infants. Both patients presented to the Emergency Department with an incidentally noticed shiny, metallic appearing, disc-shaped foreign body impacted in the hard palate. Both objects were understandably misdiagnosed as button batteries. The first patient required foreign body retrieval by ENT under general anaesthesia, whilst the second underwent retrieval safely in the Emergency Department. Tabletop party confetti should be considered in patients presenting with a suspected button battery impaction of the hard palate, which will drastically change the approach to clinical management and potentially minimise harms.

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References

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Funding

TH receives grant funding from The Wellcome Trust (203919/Z/16/Z), but none of the authors report any other conflicts of interest financial or otherwise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ENT Department, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, E Prescot Rd, Liverpool, L14 5AB, Merseyside, UK

    Rohan Pinto, Thomas Hampton, Su De & Adam Donne

  2. Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3BX, Merseyside, UK

    Thomas Hampton

  3. Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Pl, Liverpool, L3 5QA, Merseyside, UK

    Thomas Hampton

Authors
  1. Rohan Pinto
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  2. Thomas Hampton
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  3. Su De
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  4. Adam Donne
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Hampton.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

ICJME statement

RP and TH conceived the project; RP, AD, TH, and SD designed the work; TH and RP acquired and analysed data; RP drafted and revised the manuscript; RP, AD, TH, and SD provided further revisions to the manuscript; all authors approved the final manuscript; TH agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Pinto, R., Hampton, T., De, S. et al. Foreign body impaction of the hard palate: tabletop party confetti mimicking button batteries in two infants. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 280, 3023–3026 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-07935-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-023-07935-9

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