Usefulness of ultrasonography in gastric foreign body retention

Foreign-body ingestion occurs frequently in childhood. The diagnosis of ing estion is usually made by plain film radiography. Ultrasound is not routine ly used in the investigation of gastric foreign bodies because of the limit ations imposed by intestinal gas. This drawback can be overcome by distendi ng the stomach with an anechoic liquid, which acts as an acoustic window. I n a child who had ingested a coin, US performed after drinking tea was diag nostic and showed a hyperechoic image with an acoustic shadow inside the st omach. We believe that US is an appropriate technique for follow-up of gast ric foreign bodies.