* The author's new ball forceps are very successful with ball-bearing balls and marbles.
[FIG. 89.—Schema illustrating the use of the lip of the bronchoscope in disimpaction of foreign bodies. A and B show an annular edema above the foreign body, F. At C the edematous mucosa is being repressed by the lip of the tube mouth, permitting insinuation of the hook, H, past one side of the foreign body, which is then withdrawn to a convenient place for application of the forceps. This repression by the lip is often used for purposes other than the insertion of hooks. The lip of the esophagoscope can be used in the same way.]
Extraction of Soft Friable Foreign Bodies from the Tracheobronchial Tree.—The difficulties here consist in the liability of crushing or fragmenting the object, and scattering portions into minute bronchi, as well as the problem of disimpaction from a ring of annular edema, with little or no forceps space. There is usually in these cases an abundance of purulent secretion which further hinders the work. The great danger of pushing the foreign body downward so that the swollen mucosa hides it completely from view, must always be kept in mind. Extremely delicate forceps with rather broad blades are required for this work. The fenestrated "peanut" forceps are best for large pieces in the large bronchi. The operator should develop his tactile sense with forceps by repeated practice in order to acquire the skill to grasp peanut kernels sufficiently firmly to hold them during withdrawal, yet not so firmly as to crush them. Nipping off an edge by not inserting the forceps far enough is also to be avoided. Small fragments under 2 mm. in diameter may be expelled with the secretions and fragments may be found on the sponges and in the secretions aspirated or removed by sponge pumping. It is, however, never justifiable deliberately to break a friable foreign body with the hope that the fragments will be expelled, for these may be aspirated into small bronchi, and cause multiple abscesses. A hook may be found useful in dealing with round, friable, foreign bodies; and in some cases the mechanical spoon or safety-pin closer may be used to advantage. The foreign body is then brought close to, but not crushed against the tube mouth.
[174] Removal of animal objects from the tracheobronchial tree is readily accomplished with the side-curved forceps. Leeches are not uncommon intruders in European countries. Small insects are usually coughed out. Worms and larvae may be found. Cocaine or salt solution will cause a leech to loosen its hold.
Foreign bodies in the upper-lobe bronchi are fortunately not common. If the object is not too far out to the periphery it may be grasped by the upper-lobe-bronchus forceps (Fig. 90), guided by the collaboration of the fluoroscopist. These forceps are made so as to reach high into the ascending branches of the upper-lobe bronchus. Full-curved coil-spring hooks will reach high, but must be used with the utmost caution, and the method of their disengagement must be practiced beforehand.
Penetrating Projectiles.—Foreign bodies that have penetrated the chest wall and lodged in the lung may be removed by oral bronchoscopy if the intruder is not larger than the lumen of the corresponding main bronchus (see Bibliography, 43)
[FIG. 90.—Schematic illustration of the author's upper-lobe-bronchus forceps in position grasping a pin in an anteriorly ascending branch of the upper-lobe bronchus. T, Trachea; UL, upper-lobe bronchus; LB, left bronchus; SB, stem bronchus. These forceps are made to extend around 180 degrees.]
RULES FOR ENDOSCOPIC FOREIGN BODY EXTRACTION
1. Never endoscope a foreign body case unprepared, with the idea of taking a preliminary look. 2. Approach carefully the suspected location of a foreign body, so as not to override any portion of it. [175] 3. Avoid grasping a foreign body hastily as soon as seen. 4. The shape, size and position of a foreign body, and its relations to surrounding structures, should be studied before attempting to apply the forceps. (Exception cited in Rule 10.) 5. Preliminary study of a foreign body should be from a distance. 6. As the first grasp of the forceps is the best, it should be well planned beforehand so as to seize the proper part of the intruder. 7. With all long foreign bodies the motto should be "Search, not for the foreign body, but for its nearer end." With pins, needles, and the like, with point upward, search always for the point. Try to see it first. 8. Remember that a long foreign body grasped near the middle becomes, mechanically speaking, a "toggle and ring." 9. Remember that the mortality to follow failure to remove a foreign body does not justify probably fatal violence during its removal. 10. Laryngeally lodged foreign bodies, because of the likelihood of dislodgment and loss, may be seized by any part first presented, and plan of withdrawal can be determined afterward. 11. For similar reasons, laryngeal cases should be dealt with only in the author's position (Fig. 53). 12. An esophagoscopy may be needed in a bronchoscopic case, or a bronchoscopy in an esophageal case. In every case both kinds of tubes should be sterile and ready before starting. It is the unexpected that happens in foreign body endoscopy. 13. Do not pull on a foreign body unless it is properly grasped to come away readily without trauma. Then do not pull hard. 14. Do no harm, if you cannot remove the foreign body. 15. Full-curved hooks are to be used in the bronchi with greatest caution, if used at all, lest they catch inextricably in branch bronchi. [176] 16. Don't force a foreign body downward. Coax it back. The deeper it gets the greater your difficulties. 17. The watchword of the bronchoscopist should be, "If I can do no good, I will at least do no harm."
Fluoroscopic bronchoscopy is so deceptively easy from a superficial, theoretical, point of view that it has been used unsuccessfully in cases easily handled in the regular endoscopic way with the eye at the proximal tube-mouth. In a collected series of cases by various operators the object was removed in 66.7 per cent with a mortality of 41.6 per cent. In the problem of a pin located out of the field of bronchoscopic vision, the fluoroscopist will yield invaluable aid. An extremely delicate forceps is to be inserted closed into the invaded bronchus, the grasp on the object being confirmed by the fluoroscopist. It is to be kept in mind that while the object itself may be in the grasp of the forceps, the fluoroscope will not show whether there may not be included in the forceps' grasp a bronchial spur or other tissue, the tearing of which may be fatal. Therefore traction must not be sufficient to lacerate tissue. If the foreign body does not come readily it must be released, and a new grasp may then be taken. All of the cautions in faulty seizure already mentioned, apply with particular force to fluoroscopic bronchoscopy. The fluoroscope is of aid in finding foreign bodies held in abscess cavities. The fluoroscope should show both the lateral and anteroposterior planes. To accomplish this quickly, two Coolidge tubes and two screens are necessary. Fluoroscopic bronchoscopy, because of its high mortality and low percentage of successes, should be tried only after regular, ocularly guided, peroral bronchoscopy has failed, and only by those who have had experience in ocularly guided bronchoscopy.