RESUMO
Introduction: aural foreign bodies (FB) are frequent in pediatric otorhinolaryngology and in pediatric emergencies. The objective of this study was to describe the socio-demographic, clinical and therapeutic aspects of aural FB in children in a pediatric hospital in Senegal. Methods: this was a four-year hospital-based descriptive study performed in the Otorhinolaryngology department of the Children's Hospital of Diamniadio, from 1st January 2013 to 31 December 2016 including all children under 15 years of age received for aural FB. The variables studied were age, gender, provenance, presenting symptom, time to consultation, the type of FB and morbidity. Results: sixty three FB were extracted. Mean age was 6 years 4 months. 52.4% of patients were under 5 years old. There was a slight female predominance (32/63). Location was in the right ear canal in 55.6%. Seventy three percent of patients presented in our office were asymptomatic. The median time to consultation was 4 days. Within the first 24 hours after insertion, 22.2% of children presented to our office. Beads were the first FB (29.68%), followed by seeds and cotton (12.5% respectively). Foreign bodies' extraction were performed in consultation for 79.4% of patients. The morbidity was 20.6%. It was primarily otitis externa (8%). Myringoplasty was performed in one patient who had sequelae of tympanic membrane perforation. Conclusion: aural FB is a common accident in under-5 year-olds. In our context there is a delayed consultation. Morbidity is similar to that of the literature