Can a swallowed foreign body cause severe mitral valve regurgitation

Background Very rarely a foreign body in the esophagus may penetrate anteriorly to heart or aorta. Such foreign bodies may cause pericardial effusion and cardiac tamponade. Aim To report that an accidentally swallowed foreign body in the esophagus may penetrate the heart and even cause severe mitral regurgitation. Material and methods A 20 month old girl previously healthy presented to the emergency department with 3 days history of fever, respiratory distress, vomiting and poor feeding. The mother reported that her child had some choking event almost a week before, when the child was admitted to another hospital where diagnosis was made of myocarditis. Anti-failure medications prescribed. On examination she had palpable peripheral pulses, a pansystolic murmur on the cardiac apex, and hepatomegaly. EKG showed sinus tachycardia with left ventricular hypertrophy. Chest X-ray revealed normal cardiac size with lungs congestion and suspicion of possible foreign body. Echocardiography showed dilatation of the left atrium and of the pulmonary veins, severe mitral regurgitation with an echogenic structure in next to the posterior mitral valve leaflet with consensual moving. Chest CT scan revealed a high-density metallic foreign body inside the heart in correspondence of the left atrio-ventricular junction. The foreign body was removed surgically and proved to be a thin shiny metal bar, 2 cm in length. The mitral valve was completely damaged and was replaced by mechanical valve (Carbomedics 18 mm). The postoperative course was uneventful and patient was discharged home with anti-failure medications (frusemide, captopril) and warfarin. She remained asymptomatic one year after surgery. Conclusion The process of diagnosing a foreign body in an infant or a toddler, eroding from the esophagus to the heart was very tricky. The diagnosis was suspected by the history of chocking. The x-ray of the chest showed an abnormal structure on the heart shadow, which was further underlined by the echocardiogram suggesting abnormal structure in the heart. Finally CT angio of heart confirmed a metallic foreign body in the left atrium. Happily, MRI was not done; it may have proved disastrous in such a case. The strategy regarding foreign body management either conservative or by its removal either by cardiac catheterization or surgery, depends on location, size of foreign body as well as on whether the patient is symptomatic and in danger to develop further complications. In our case, as the foreign body was in the left atrium and the patient was very critically ill, we opted to remove it by surgery. Moreover, it was thought that patient might need mitral valve repair but unfortunately the valve was so damaged that we opted for mitral valve replacement.