An elderly lady with an inspiratory stridor

Abstract

An 87-year-old lady, known with Alzheimer’s disease presented to the Emergency Department with dyspnea and an inspiratory stridor. As a consequence of her cognitive impairment, she was not able to provide a history and the diagnosis was not immediately clear. Laboratory examination showed a leucocytosis with an increased percentage of neutrophils and an elevated C-reactive protein. The chest radiography demonstrated a radiopaque object. She was admitted to the intensive care unit and an urgent endoscopy was performed. The stridor turned out to be due to ingestion of a button.