Experts warn: eat carefully and swallow slowly, and must not "wind and clouds"

Old Uncle Zheng, who is nearly seventy years old, likes to eat jujube produced in Xinjiang very much, and he is used to putting dates in it when cooking porridge, and he does not forget to embed a few dates when steaming steamed buns, and he adds some dates when wrapping rice dumplings, and eats seven or eight sweet dates as snacks every day
.
One day not long ago, the uncle chewed dates while talking to his family, but accidentally swallowed the whole jujube kernel
.
In order to get the jujube nucleus stuck in the throat down as soon as possible, the old man swallowed rice balls, ate leeks, drank a lot of rice vinegar, and tossed for two or three days before going to the gastroenterology department of Linyi People's Hospital in Shandong Province to see a doctor
.
The patient was Kong Lingjian, an expert from the Chinese Food Think Tank, secretary of the NOTES Group of the Colorectal Oncology Professional Committee of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, deputy director of the second ward of the Department of Gastroenterology of Linyi People's Hospital, associate professor and medical doctor, and after his detailed examination, he found that the sharp corner of the jujube nucleus had punctured the uncle's esophagus, and pus flowed out
from time to time.
Dr.
Kong immediately performed endoscopic esophageal foreign body removal on the old man, which successfully eliminated the "assassin"
.

Foreign bodies are dangerous to get stuck in the throat

Kong Lingjian reminded that esophageal foreign bodies are a common disease in clinical digestive system emergencies, often due to careless diet, accidental ingestion of foreign bodies or esophageal diseases caused by animal, vegetative, metal and other types of foreign bodies embedded in the esophageal lumen, if not properly handled, will induce esophageal perforation, esophageal bleeding, periesophageal inflammation, neck and chest subcutaneous emphysema, mediastinitis and abscess, and tracheoeesophageal fistula and other complications
.
Severe cases can cause empyema and septic shock; If it ruptures into the aorta, it can cause acute massive bleeding and be life-threatening
.

According to Kong Lingjian, the human esophagus has a total of upper, middle and lower three physiological stenosis, of which the first esophageal stenosis is located at the beginning of the esophagus, that is, the junction of the pharynx and the esophagus, where the nerves, blood vessels and muscles near the esophagus are very dense, and there is a trachea passing through, under the constraint of the thoracic entrance, resulting in a tight arrangement of various tissues, so that the esophagus is the narrowest in this position, while the esophageal mucosal folds increase and enlarge, and pointed and irregular foreign bodies are difficult to be "released" here, and are most easily stuck.
It is therefore the most common site
of esophageal foreign body incarceration.

Secondly, foreign bodies are easy to stay in the second stenosis in the middle of the esophagus, this place is close to the aorta, once a sharp object punctures the mucosa, the esophagus can quickly appear inflammation and swelling, and then ulcers or perforations, forming periesophageal inflammation, mediastinitis and abscesses, if the inflammation corrosion penetrates the blood vessel wall, it can cause fatal hemorrhage, and is very dangerous
.
Therefore, esophageal foreign bodies here are often dangerous, especially sharp foreign bodies such as fish bones, which must be treated
as soon as possible.
Clinically, foreign body impaction in the lower esophagus is rare
.

Four of the most common reasons are the most common

In daily life, why do cases of esophageal foreign bodies often occur? Kong Lingjian analyzed that first, when adults eat in a hurry or are not concentrated, the food is swallowed without careful chewing, resulting in food clumps blocking the esophageal lumen or swallowing jujube cores, fish bones, chicken bones, etc.
into the esophagus; Second, the elderly are often prone to swallowing foreign bodies due to tooth loss or use of dentures, poor chewing function, decreased sensation in the mouth, dysphagia, and loose esophageal orifice; Third, children's pharyngeal protective reflex has not yet been developed, and the teeth are incomplete, it is not easy to discharge foreign bodies in the food, if you laugh and cry when eating, it is easy to swallow large pieces of food
.
And children like to contain beads, coins, pen caps or small toys in their mouths, and they will swallow them if they are not careful; Fourth, if there are lesions in the esophagus itself, such as narrowing of the lumen caused by esophageal stenosis or esophageal cancer, it is difficult for foreign bodies to pass through and move, and it is easy to make foreign bodies stay and cause damage
.

Since 2010, Kong Lingjian and his medical team have performed more than 500 cases of esophageal foreign body removal, and the proportion of foreign bodies such as swallowing jujube nuclei caused by the first cause like Zheng Dabo is the highest; The second is the third, that is, young children swallow foreign objects
such as magnetic beads and coins.
What requires high vigilance is that the elderly and children are prone to foreign body impaction of the esophagus, and must be quickly taken out in the hospital
.

Deal with the hidden dangers by yourself

From Dr.
Kong Lingjian's experience in endoscopic esophageal foreign body removal over the years, there are various types of esophageal foreign bodies
.
Among them, animal foreign bodies are the most common, such as fish bones, chicken bones, meat pieces, etc
.
This is followed by metal items such as coins, pinnails, paper clips, metal fragments, etc
.
In addition, there are chemical synthesis and plants, such as dentures, plastic bottle caps, rubber stoppers, small wooden strips, etc
.
A special phenomenon is that the northern region of China is a jujube producing area, and the jujube nucleus in this area is sharp at both ends, and it is very easy to stick in the
esophagus after misswallowing.
Just a few days before and after the Dragon Boat Festival in 2022, eight or nine patients who accidentally swallowed jujube nuclei went to the endoscopy room of the gastroenterology department of Linyi People's Hospital to undergo gastrointestinal foreign body removal
.

Kong Lingjian warned that when a foreign body is stuck behind the esophagus, it can make people difficult to swallow, painful to swallow, accompanied by a feeling of foreign body obstruction, if the foreign body compresses the trachea or larynx greatly, especially in young children, it can cause difficulty breathing, and even the possibility
of suffocation and death.
If the above situation is sudden, you should seek medical attention immediately, and avoid forcibly using homemade methods such as swallowing rice balls, steamed buns, leeks and other homely methods to try to push the foreign body down, so as not to aggravate the damage, lead to complications, and increase the difficulty
of treatment.
Especially for young children, there are two foreign bodies that are the most urgent, one is batteries, batteries are very dangerous, after contact with digestive tract fluid, it is extremely corrosive, and can burn the digestive tract in a short time, and even perforate
.
The second is magnetic beads, magnetic beads such small things look round and slippery without any edges, in fact, hide a lot of harm, if you accidentally eat two or more, they can be adsorbed together in the body, induce gastrointestinal necrosis and perforated internal fistula, and even kill.

Be careful to get to the point

So how can the public prevent the embarrassment of esophageal foreign bodies in daily life? Kong Lingjian reminded the general public: It is better to chew slowly for three minutes than grab a second! When eating, emphasize chewing slowly, avoid rushing, especially when eating food with fish bones or bones, you should carefully remove fine thorns and broken bones, and avoid mixing such foods with rice and noodles for cooking
.
At the same time, the elderly must strictly prevent dentures from falling out and eat less sticky foods, such as cut cakes, sticky bean buns, sticky bud rice, etc
.
Pay attention before eating, remove dentures before sleep and general anesthesia, and repair loose dentures in time
.

It should be emphasized that children's development in all aspects is still very immature, the esophagus and airway are narrow, and the swallowing function is not sound, to educate children not to put all kinds of small objects in the mouth to play due to curiosity, adults need to be politely persuaded after discovery, let the child quickly spit out, must not be forcibly taken out with fingers, so as not to cry or refuse to inhale foreign objects into the airway
due to young children.
Dr Kong also cautioned that parents should pay attention to avoiding direct consumption of foods that are easy to catch their throats to children under 3 years old, such as peanuts, jellies, nuts, chewing gum, fish bones, meat pieces, cherries, etc
.
If there is a need to eat, parents must carefully observe and demonstrate how to eat around their children, and if necessary, chop and grind such foods to prevent the possibility
of risks from the source.

Editor's note: According to expert statistics, due to the accelerated pace of life and intense study and work, modern people have dropped from 900-1100 chews per meal half a century ago and took 20-30 minutes to 500-600 chews per meal and 5-10 minutes
at present.
Ideally, a bite of food should be chewed at least 20 times in the mouth to get the benefits of saliva, and 30 times is more scientific and reasonable
.
From the perspective of healthy eating, the public should change the bad eating habits
of "stormy clouds".
Regardless of men, women and children, eating should be calm, calm and elegant, because slowing down the rhythm of eating and drinking can not only effectively prevent foreign bodies from blocking the esophagus, but also fully taste the happiness and pleasure brought to us by food
.

What makes people sigh is that the ancients also had deep insights and unique experience of chewing slowly - the famous Tang Dynasty doctor Sun Simiao's "Daily Self-Ching" once described it as follows: "Food must be chewed well, raw food should not be swallowed"
.
The Ming Dynasty's "Yesterday Fei An Ri Qi" Yun: "Eat carefully and swallow slowly, send it with jin liquid, and then the essence is dispersed in the spleen, the color is filled in the muscles, and the coarse and fast are only for the dregs to fill the intestines and stomach ears"
.
"Lao Lao Hengyan" believes: "There are three transformations in the stomach, one cremation, rotten boiling; Two mouthfuls, chewing also; Triple-abdomenization, into the stomach automorphic also"
.
"Words for Recovering from Illness" warns: "Regardless of porridge and rice snacks, it is advisable to chew it very carefully and swallow"
.

(Yi Xiaofeng)

Preliminary review: Li Song Responsible editor: Xiao Zhihan Review: Ouyang Meihua