A Role for Magnetism in the ED

​Children have this strange predilection for placing small objects in body cavities and orifices. Besides putting foreign bodies in their mouths, an act that often leads to ingestion or aspiration, the ear canals and nares are their favorite locations for depositing plastic beads, toy parts, paper materials, small vegetables, jewelry, screws, and nails, and that frequently brings them to the emergency department. Unsuccessful attempts to remove the foreign bodies in the ED lead to a consultation or referral to an ENT specialist. The timing, technique, and tools used to remove a foreign body will depend on the anatomic location, the shape of the object, the material it is made of, its consistency and texture, whether it is occlusive, and the potential risks to patient.​Magnetism is a potentially valuable tool in the emergency department that really hasn't received the respect it deserves. The cardiac pacer magnet is probably what everyone thinks of when they consider magnetism in the ED, but magnetism also can be helpful in removing metallic foreign bodies from the mouth, ears, and nasal cavities and in locating and removing ferromagnetic fragments buried under the skin and subcutaneous tissues.Not all metals are strongly attracted by a magnetic force, but this technique will work with iron, nickel, cobalt, gadolinium, dysprosium, and alloys such as steel that contain ferromagnetic metals. Unfortunately, the majority of pediatric foreign bodies placed in the nose...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs