Three Cases of an Eshophageal Foreign Body Caused by Coin-shaped Rock Called Maeksum-seok

Chung, Tae Nyoung; Yoon, Yoo Sang; Park, In Cheol; Cho, Kwang Hyun; Kim, Seung Ho

Abstract

Generally, the occurrence of an esophageal foreign body due to a coin-like material is rare in adults. The Maeksumseok is a kind of rock that is believed to be good for health in Korean folk medicine. Thus, people use a Maeksumseok in various ways, one of which is keeping coin-shaped Maeksum-seok in the mouth. Because of this use, it is easy to swallow a Maeksum-seok coin by accident, and a swallowed Maeksum-seok coin will easily lodge in esophagus. We experienced three cases of an esophageal foreign body caused by a Maeksum-seok coin. The patients swallowed the Maeksum-seok coin accidentally while sleeping with the Maeksum-seok coin in their mouth for health reasons. The problem is that it was hard to detect the Maeksum-seok coin by using a simple radiologic study. However, the patients in these cases complained of a sustained foreign body sensation, so we used endoscopy. The foreign bodies were easily detected and removed by endoscopy in both cases.